The Demon Queen
by supercode
Summary: Sequel to "A Holiday Fit for a Queen". Finale to the Olibel Trilogy. A new year brings new challenges for Oliver Queen and his loved ones, who are forced to contend with new enemies, old allies, and many challenges. Meanwhile, Oliver must come to terms with his role as master of assassins, as well as responsibilities to his family, friends, and his very pregnant "wife". Complete
1. Prologue

**AN: This is the third and final story in my Olibel (Oliver/Isabel pairing) trilogy. If you have not done so already feel free to read "The Sins of the Father, the Deeds of the Son" and "A Holiday Fit for a Queen" before reading this tale, which would probably make little sense without reading those previous stories. Now, without further ado, I now present, for the approval of the readers on this site, "The Demon Queen". I hope you all enjoy it!**

Oliver Queen sighed as he stepped into the study on the first floor of the Queen Mansion…the one that had been his father's study, once upon a time. The exhausted man flopped backward onto the wooden chair in front of Robert Queen's old desk and forced himself to boot up his laptop to look at the encrypted messages his assassins had been sending him concerning the Intel…or lack thereof, which they had been able to collect on H.I.V.E during the last month. The Arrow tried not to think too hard about how quickly he had gotten used to think of the members of the League as "his assassins", or about how good he had gotten at giving Sarab and his fellow assassins orders in a month. And what a month it had been…

After Oliver and Isabel's third trip to Nanda Parbat, during which they had been married (not in a legally binding sense yet, but the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel still considered themselves husband and wife now, even if the "official wedding" in front of the whole world had not occurred yet) in front of the League and a few of Oliver's friends and family members, things had been rather busy for one Oliver Jonas Queen. The man had been torn between his duties to Queen Consolidated (as a CEO), his responsibility to help guard the city (as the Arrow), his obligations to the League of Assassins (an organization which was used to a more "hands on" approach to leadership than the hero was comfortable with), and most importantly, his responsibilities to his wife and family. In the midst of all of these responsibilities, finding a new place for Oliver and Isabel to live, along with their unborn child and Connor, had taken a backseat, something Moira Queen hadn't actually minded terribly, since the Queen matriarch had recently decided to move into Walter Steele's apartment, closer to both Starling National Bank and City Hall, as the older woman's relationship with her ex-husband/boyfriend continued getting serious again. Even so, Oliver was starting to find the tasks of juggling all of his responsibilities to be overwhelming, especially after some recent developments with the wedding and Isabel's pregnancy had come up. And HIVE's decision to go underground, for no apparent reason, just before the current Ra's al Ghul sent men to look for the head of that organization, was not making things any easier for Oliver Queen.

The vigilante's thoughts were suddenly interrupted, however, when he heard and felt a faint whoosh of air come into the room from outside the Queen mansion, a burst of air that was so small, and had halted so quickly, that most men wouldn't have even noticed it. But Oliver Queen was not most men, as several years of fighting for his life had made the hero more perceptive than most. Therefore, the Arrow was able to turn around and see the large, costumed man, standing in a dark corner of the office next to the window Oliver guessed said man had entered through, several seconds before the man started talking. "I think it's about time you and I had another chat, Arrow."

Oliver Queen narrowed his eyes while standing up and walking towards the man in black, until he was only a foot in front of the other man and he could look the intruder in the eye. "Fine. I was wondering when you were going to show up here, Batman. But when I heard Bruce Wayne had arrived in town this morning, I knew it wouldn't be long. By the way, I recently had the security force around this mansion tripled since that little incident with the Dark Archer. I trust my people didn't give you any trouble?"

Batman sneered. "Please. They never even saw me. If you value your life, Arrow, you'll get better security, for your family's sake, if not your own. Damien Darhk is every bit as clever as your predecessor, but without his sense of decency. When he finds out you are gunning for him, if he hasn't already, he will come after your entire family, including Connor and your unborn child. You should probably have some of your assassins…", Oliver picked up the disapproving tone in the Bat's voice when he said "your assassins" as the dark clad vigilante continued speaking. "watch over this mansion when you are sleeping or away on business. Speaking of which, I wanted to talk to you about your use of the Intel I gave you to kill the previous Ra's al Ghul and take his place as the Demon's Head. That wasn't part of our deal, Oliver!"

The Arrow sighed, not bothering to ask the Bat how he knew about his new position with the League or his hunt for the head of HIVE. "No. It wasn't. I was just going to use the information you gave me to get Tommy, Isabel, and my unborn child back. Unfortunately, things didn't go the way I planned them and my predecessor challenged me to a duel, a challenge I couldn't refuse if I wanted Isabel and my child back. I was just barely able to survive that with the info you gave me (in fact, in a matter of speaking, I didn't), and I was only able to do that by killing Ra's al Ghul. And after that, I was informed that killing the last Ra's al Ghul made me the current Demon's Head, a role that I'm still trying to find a way to get out of once I deal with HIVE. So, I'm sorry that I'm not as good at fighting with a sword as you are, Batman, but killing Ra's was the only way me and my loved ones could get off of Nanda Parbat alive, so that is exactly what I did, and now here we are."

The Caped Crusader made a faint grumbling noise, but the intensity in his eyes lessened as he continued looking the Emerald Archer in the eyes. "Fine. I figured that a scenario like that was what occurred, which is why, apart from some nasty business with escaped convicts from Arkham I needed to round up, that I waited this long to talk with you after Nanda Parbat. But I wanted to be sure, and I wanted to look you in the eyes while you told your story to make sure you were telling the truth. That you hadn't just been using what I taught you to obtain a position of power for yourself. You're telling the truth. So, what is your next move? I know a bit about your deal with the Bratva, to undermine HIVE somehow, and your ties to that organization. I don't approve of you associating yourself with so many criminals but…" The Detective shrugged. "This is your city, not mine. As long as you don't cross a line, I'll let you and your friends run things your own way in Starling. In any case, I know you are planning to go after HIVE, and, now that I see you are still on the level, I wanted to offer you my help in accomplishing that goal, since HIVE has been almost as much of a blight to me and Gotham as the League of Assassins used to be, especially after they recruited one of my old enemies, Tom Hardy, aka Bane, who… gave me a lot of trouble about a year ago. So, what is your current plan to take down HIVE? And after you do that, how where you planning to get rid of your current position with the League of Assassins?"

Oliver sighed. "Both of those plans are still works in progress. I have my best people trying to gather information on HIVE, but the whole organization seems to have moved underground in the last 90 days or so, and nobody has been able to find the present whereabouts of any of the members of that organization…"

Batman grunted and interrupted Oliver. "I haven't heard anything about them either, during that time although, up until recently, I'd been too busy dealing with a psychotic clown in Gotham to look for any of Darhk's people. With an organization that size….That can only mean Darhk is planning something. Something big. Something so big that he was willing to give up 3 months of HIVE making a profit in order to put his whole organization behind preparing that plan. And that is very bad news, Oliver. The last time HIVE put this amount of time and effort into a plan, they almost destroyed Gotham by trying to make a nuclear power plant go into meltdown. Gotham PD, ARGUS, and I were barely able to stop that from happening….and Damien still got away. We need to get to the bottom of what he is up to and stop it before he tries something like that again with another major population center."

Oliver shook his head. "Yeah. And we will. Thanks for volunteering to help, by the way. But first we need to actually find out where Damien is…"

Batman waved his hand dismissively. "Let me worry about finding Damian. I know that you have a lot of talented people looking for him already, probably including some League assassins and Felicity Smoak, possibly even some of your ARGUS and Bratva contacts, but, obviously, they have been unsuccessful so far. Sometimes it is easier for one person to find a needle in a haystack than it is for a bunch of people to try to do the same task. Especially if that one person knows what he is looking for, and I've already had run-ins with HIVE before. I know how they operate. Besides, I'm pretty good at Detective work. I will find Darhk. You should focus on rallying your forces to do battle with HIVE. As soon as I find out anything, I will let you know. And by the way. Nothing personal, Oliver, but I'm going to stay as far away from you as I can from now on, and try to take a mostly advisory approach to helping you stop HIVE. Because I don't think many of your new underlings would appreciate me being around the new head of their organization. I've given the League a lot of trouble over the years, after all. Foiled a lot of their plans. And the assassins have long memories, Oliver. They do not let go of grudges easily. Remember that."

Oliver nodded. "I will keep that in mind. And I appreciate your help. This will be two that I owe you now, Batman. Is there anything else we need to discuss?"

Batman shook his head. "First of all, you don't owe me anything. Both the League of Assassins and HIVE have been thorns in my side, as well as Gotham's, over the last two years. So I'm glad I was able to help you change the leadership of the first organization, and I'm more than happy to help you take down Darhk. Make no mistake, I'm not helping you out of charity."

Before Oliver could reply to that revelation, the Dark Knight resumed speaking. "Also, although there is no other HIVE business we need to discuss at the moment, there is one other matter I would like to speak with you about. Your tendency to make strange bedfellows in the company you keep. And in one particular case, I mean that quite literally...You told me you were having a child with Miss Rochev, Oliver, and I've recently heard that you are going to marry her soon. Is that correct?"

The Batman's tone made it clear that last question was a rhetorical one, but Oliver answered it anyway with a glare. "Yes. Of course that's true. It's only been in Starling City's society pages for the past month, Bruce. Stop being cryptic. Where are you going with this?"

The Bat shrugged. "I was just wondering why you have allowed yourself to get so close to someone with a history as…interesting as Isabel's…"

The Arrow's fists clenched. "If you were thinking of mentioning Isabel's history with my family again, you can save your breath. I already told you Miss Rochev and I have decided to put the past behind us and…"

The Caped Crusader didn't even blink. "I'm sure you have. But I was actually referring to Isabel's former position as Ravager, Slade Wilson's right hand woman. That man was one of your greatest enemies, and one of the best assassins in the world, after all. And now you have allowed yourself to get close to his old accomplice…"

Oliver's fists clenched harder as he resisted the impulse to punch Batman in the face for continually questioning his relationship with Isabel. Even so, the Arrow's nails were digging into his hands hard enough to draw a small amount of blood now, as the Emerald Archer replied to the Dark Knight's words through clenched teeth. "The Midnight Sentinel risked everything, including her very life, in order to turn on Deathstroke and help my team beat Slade. In doing so, she trusted me with her life, and has continued to do so since then. How could I do any less in return? And not that it's any of your business, but Mrs. Rochev-Queen, as her name will soon be after we make our marriage legal, happen to love each other, so I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to get me away from the woman I'm going to have a child with soon. After all, I'm not the one who has been hanging out with a villainess since I was twelve years old. How is Selina Kyle doing these days, by the way?"

The Batman's face remained stoic, but his eyes noticeably widened, earning a small smirk from Oliver as Bruce spoke. "I don't know what you are talking about…"

"Save it!" The Arrow replied, smirk still on his face. "Do you really think you're the only one who does homework on other vigilantes and their associates? I know all about your longtime…" The Emerald Archer coughed in an exaggerated fashion. "Friendship with Catwoman, Batman. So you can stop pretending you have a leg to stand on when you criticize my relationship choices right now."

The Dark Knight's scowled at the Emerald Archer. "I don't know what you think you know about me or miss Kyle, Arrow, but my personal relationships are none of your…"

"Business?" Oliver shrugged. "I quite agree. Just like my relationship history is none of your concern. Agreed?"

A scowl remained on the Caped Crusader's face even as he nodded slowly. "Agreed."

With that, the dark clad vigilante started towards the window, until he hear Oliver mutter something to himself out loud. "What is it about us vigilantes and bad girls anyway?"

This comment earned the blonde man a glare from the Batman, and the latter party was about to give Oliver an angry reply before the voice of a third person, who had just entered the room, made Mr. Wayne think better of it. "Oh, I don't know. I don't think I'm that bad, Oliver."

Isabel Rochev entered the room, and the first thing the Caped Crusader noticed was that the brunette was noticeably rounder than he would have guessed. The Russian woman already looked about four months pregnant. A fact which was somewhat unusual, considering that her and Oliver's baby had been conceived only a little over two months ago. The vigilante with a cowl decided to file that information away until later, when he had time to research the Midnight Sentinel's unusual pregnancy, as the heroine, clad in an elegant black dress that fit her somewhat enlarged frame perfectly, slowly walked up next to her husband and faced Batman with her arms crossed in front of her chest as she smirked. "Not any more, at least."

The Russian woman smiled as she leaned towards Oliver's ear and whispered. "Except sometimes when we are alone together. Right, lover?"

Oliver barely surprised a shudder of excitement while his "wife" turned her attention back to the Batman. "And from what I understand of it, Miss Kyle isn't that bad herself, at least by Gotham villain…" The heroine put air quotes up in the air as she said the word "villain." "Standards. Now am I interrupting something? Because it sounded to me like you two where having some sort of superhero pissing contest in here. And you were doing so awful loudly, I might add. I didn't even need my superior senses to hear your argument. I'm just glad that Connor is at a sleepover with the Jones' tonight, or he would have heard it too. Also, as much as I appreciate you wanting to defend my honor, Oliver, it's not necessary. I can defend my own reputation, thank you very much. Especially from some overgrown child who spends his nights dressed up like a bat because he never got over his mommy and daddy dying in front of him."

Bruce Wayne had a surprised and angry look on his face for half a second before he was able to collect himself. "That will be all, Miss Rochev."

"Wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that!" Isabel sighed after Bruce Wayne silently left the Queen Mansion the same way she came in. "Was that too mean, Oliver? Yes, that was definitely too mean. He is a hero after all, and from what I hear, he's saved Gotham City a bunch of times. And he's helping us. And the poor man probably hasn't had any kind of normal social life since his parents died when he was twelve. How is he supposed to know what he should and shouldn't say around people? I'm sure he was just trying to be a friend to you, in a weird, somewhat jerkish way, when he was warning you about me. Oh no! I'm a mean person! I'm going to be a mean, horrible mother to our child and…."

Oliver quickly drew Isabel, who was now crying hysterically, into a hug, cutting off his wife's rambling. "No. No you're not. You have done a wonderful job being a mom to Connor, and you aren't even his biological mother! Yes, it's true that your healing factor and resurrection-induced accelerated pregnancy has made your emotions more volatile than normal. And yeah, you did step over the line with that comment about Bruce's parent's, and you should definitely apologize about that remark the next time you see him, but in general, you have actually been acting progressively nicer, both around my family, especially me and Connor, and in the office at Queen Consolidated."

Isabel nodded. Even if it was still hard for her to see herself as a good person after so many years of doing bad, her recent experiences had shown Isabel that she was, in fact, getting better at being nice to people. Besides her obviously strong relationships with Connor and Oliver, Isabel was also getting along better with Felicity, who the Russian women now considered her closest female friend. In between office activities and Arrow business, the two women were spending a surprising amount of time together performing mundane activities such as shopping (were Isabel gave Felicity fashion advice every now and again) and surfing the internet (where Felicity turned Isabel on to the possibility of using social media to promote QC more effectively, as well as installing a better firewall into Isabel's personal PC).

On a similar front, Isabel was also spending more time with her protégé, Thea, who had been the active participant in planning her brother's upcoming (public) marriage to Isabel, since the engaged couple were busy running QC and Moira was busy running all of Starling. This gave Thea ample opportunity to engage Isabel in conversations concerning the latter's upcoming marriage to Oliver…which Thea often changed into movie night's and/or girl talk in with her trainer, who happened to also be her sister in-law, and the future mother of Thea's niece and/or nephew. When this happened, Isabel always half-heartedly complained that she was a busy woman, and that she didn't have time for Thea's constant social calls…but the slightly older woman had secretly come to enjoy spending time with her trainee and sister in law, even outside of Arrow business.

Spending time around Moira Queen was still a bit of a tricky proposition for Isabel, however. Even though the Queen matriarch had privately forgiven Isabel for her affair with Robert, the middle aged woman's pride would never allow her to publicly acknowledge that she had forgiven her late husband's ex-mistress for her past transgressions. This was unfortunate, since it had frequently been necessary for Isabel and Moira, who was technically in charge of planning her son's wedding, to meet to discuss the details of the Russian woman's public marriage to the heir to the Queen fortune. These interactions had led to numerous small conflicts between Isabel and Moira including, but not limited to, Moira's objections to Oliver not giving Isabel a prenuptial agreement (even though it had been Oliver's idea not to do so), and Isabel's overly speedy pregnancy, which was making it increasingly obvious to everyone that Isabel was already heavy with Oliver's child. And try as she might, the Queen matriarch had been unable to put together a spectacle like a "proper Queen wedding" before Isabel started showing, since Moira refused to follow Isabel's suggestion to have a smaller wedding, with less important guest and more friends and family. Moira's suggestion, that Isabel should start eating more in public to pretend she was just putting on a lot of weight, in order to preserve the reputation of the Queen name, was met with equal resistance on Isabel's part, since she refused to pretend she was getting fat just to avoid embarrassing Moira. Therefore, despite Oliver's insistence that he didn't care how big or small the wedding was, or how obvious it was that Isabel was pregnant, since he was not ashamed to be having a child with the woman he loved, things were tense between Moira and Isabel. But at least Isabel and Moira were able to disagree about things in a civil manner now, unlike several months before.

People at Queen Consolidated were also starting to notice Isabel's new temperament, as the Russian woman rarely yelled at her worker's anymore, and she actually smiled and laughed around the office now and then. Because of these changes, despite a few jokes here and there about Isabel being obviously pregnant, most of the office gossip concerning Isabel at QC concerned how "Oliver Queen somehow melted the heart of the Ice Queen." Despite her enhanced hearing allowing her to hear every word her employees were saying, Isabel pretended not to hear such idle gossip, for two reasons. One, it made her angry that her employees were talking about her in such a disrespectful manner. And two, because their words about Oliver melting her old heart of ice were truer than she really wanted to admit, even to herself. Even so, despite her improving temperament, Isabel's unusual pregnancy made her susceptible to wild mood swings every now and then, which would make her say things she regretted sometimes, to people like Bruce Wayne, Moira, or her newest trainees, Helena and Laurel…

Pulling her out of her thoughts, Oliver drew Isabel into a deep kiss that lasted several seconds. After the heir to the Queen fortune pulled away from his osculation with Isabel, Oliver forced himself to smile. "Don't worry. You're a good person, Isabel. And somehow, being with you, sometimes makes me feel like I am one too. And we will get through all of this. This pregnancy. Working with Batman, as infuriating as he can be sometimes. Even beating HIVE. As long as we have each other, and our friends and family have our backs, we will be able to survive anything and build a happy life together.

This time it was Isabel who pulled Oliver into a deep kiss, causing Oliver's left hand to drift towards Isabel's waist even while his right hand fondled Isabel's pregnant belly. As he did so, Oliver swore to himself that he would keep his promise to Isabel. For Isabel's sake, and their unborn child, and Connor's, and all of his friends and family, and hell, even a little bit for himself, Oliver knew he would do whatever it took to make sure he and the people he loved survived the storms of their chaotic life and got their happily ever after…one day at a time. Because right now, in the arms of the woman he loved, Oliver couldn't think of a single thing he would rather be fighting for.

 **AN: First of all, I would like to start out by saying I am so sorry it took me so long to get started on this, but a variety of technical problems (like my constantly malfunctioning computer) and personal issues (including being sick and some family related incidents I won't go into here) have conspired to keep me out of a position in which I could write. I hope you will all forgive the long delay. On a similar note, I believe this story will be shorter, at least by number of chapters, than my previous two entrees in this series. Also, this will be my final entry in the story of Olibel. Don't get me wrong, I love playing with the characters of Arrow and the DC comics universes, but I think it will be time for me to move on to other writing projects by the time this story is completed. I hope you all understand.**

 **On a more positive note, I worked really hard on this chapter, and I think you will like some of the twists and turns that I will put in this story (I'm sure you have already spotted one of them) as well as how this story will end. But please, readers, I would really appreciate your honest opinion of this first chapter of "The Demon Queen." After all, you are the reason that I post stories on this site, so I want to know if you all think I am doing a good job!**

 **On a similar note, I would like to use this space to give a big thank you to all of my readers, new and old, who have been reading this trilogy from the first chapter of TSFTDS until now! Your support and reader loyalty are greatly appreciated.**

 **And last but not least, I would like to thank my beta reader, who had made sure that I cross my t's and dot my I's, and just generally kept my story from resembling the aftermath of a gladiator arena after all the battles have been fought. As always, your help is greatly appreciated!**

 **Until next time, I am…**

 **-supercode**


	2. Prelude to Madness

Isabel huffed and puffed as she ran after the man who was fleeing from her into the alley. The brunette couldn't help but think to herself that this task, running down a common purse snatcher, would have been a whole lot easier a month or so ago, when she was a lot less pregnant. Isabel also couldn't help but feel guilty as she realized that she had no idea what effect this level of physical exertion would have on her baby. However, despite Dr. Snow's advice that Isabel should "take it easy" and avoid exerting herself during her complex and increasingly rapid pregnancy, Isabel knew that, as bad an idea as running might be for right now, skipping her next dose, which the Russian woman was supposed to take less than 30 minutes from now, of the special medicine that Catelyn had STAR Labs cook up for the specific purpose of stabilizing Isabel's pregnancy, would be an even worse idea. Unfortunately, Isabel's only bottle of that medicine was in her purse. And said purse, which had also contained Isabel's only cellphone, had been stolen about 2 minutes ago right after she had walked out of the main headquarters of Queen Consolidated. And unfortunately, every member of the Queen family and team Arrow was scattered across Starling City doing different tasks at the moment. Which was why one hugely pregnant Isabel Rochev, who now looked like she was about six months along, was chasing after a purse snatcher through the streets of Starling City well after 9PM.

Isabel would have smiled when she finally managed to run the large white male into a dead end, at the end of the alleyway, but she was too exhausted, and too pissed off, to be happy at the moment. However, as Isabel stopped to catch her breath for a minute, and the purse snatcher looked between the pregnant woman who had somehow managed to keep up with him for two minutes, and the exit to the alleyway, repeatedly, Isabel allowed herself to ruminate on the fact that really, this purse snatcher was just the shit stained cherry on top of the horrible sundae that these past couple of stressful weeks had been for her and Team Arrow.

During the two weeks since Batman's visit to the Queen mansion, the relative peace which had come over Starling City since New Year's Day had quickly faded, as multiple parties attempted to make their mark on Starling City and give team Arrow trouble. Danny Brickwell, a meta-human gangster whose thick skin made him mildly invulnerable, had been just one of the individuals who had made things difficult for Oliver and his friends during that time. A hearty adversary, Daniel had managed to hold the Glades hostage for over a week before a joint effort between Team Arrow and Captain Lance's new anti-meta human task force had finally managed to bring "Brick's" criminal empire down and free Starling City's most disadvantaged neighborhood from the gangster's grasp. But before team Arrow had managed to beat Brick, Oliver had discovered something about the mob boss that made the Arrow furious.

It turned out that, during Brick's early days as an enforcer, he had killed a woman named Rebecca Merlyn, Malcolm Merlyn's wife, right outside of the clinic that woman had founded in the Glades. This revelation had inspired a long, rage filled speech by one Oliver Jonas Queen, who had blamed Brick for not only killing Tommy Merlyn's mother, but also setting in motion the events of Malcolm's Undertaking, which had been inspired by the tragic loss of his wife. At one point, Oliver had threatened to kill Brick for the gangster's hand in inspiring the Dark Archer to kill hundreds, including the Arrow's father and best friend, and only Isabel had been able to talk her husband/fiancée down, while simultaneously rubbing Oliver's shoulders, and convinced him not to do anything rash, like killing Danny, not because she didn't believe that Danny deserved to die, but because Isabel knew that every kill that Oliver had ever made left a mark on his soul and haunted his nightmares due to his somewhat overactive conscience. And Isabel didn't want Oliver to burden himself further by unnecessarily putting another man's death on his conscience.

Shortly after the revelation about the nature Rebecca's death, Team Arrow had a showdown with Brick in the Glades. It had taken hours for Team Arrow's field team, which now included Helena Bertinelli, since Oliver's lawyers had somehow managed to get the daughter of the now dead crime lord's case thrown out of court, and Helena freed from prison, to secure victory in the Glades. Every member of Team Arrow came back from that battle with new scars and bruises to show for taking part in that battle, although Oliver had claimed that Brick looked worse than all of them combined at the end of the battle, and that "I might have used explosive arrows on him, then beat him up a tad more than necessary due to his part in Rebecca's death, and for giving my team such a hard time tonight. He is invulnerable, after all." However, as hard as that battle had been for Team Arrow's active roster, it had, in a way, been even harder for Isabel, who had been forced to watch the battle through computer monitors at the Arrow Cave alongside Felicity, since her promise to Oliver, as well as her heavily pregnant body, kept her from actively participating in combat situations. As a result, as badly as Isabel had wanted to jump into the fray and help her teammates (except maybe Helena, who Isabel had been having a lot of trouble getting along with), especially Oliver and Thea, the Russian woman had been helpless to do anything but offer tactical advice to Oliver's team and worry obsessively about their safety. The whole process had nearly driven Isabel up the wall, and the Midnight Sentinel came away with even more respect for Felicity Smoak than she had even had before. She had no idea how the tech wizard managed to stay (relatively) calm and collected in her support role for Team Arrow without having a nervous breakdown, something Isabel was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to do on a regular basis. This made the brunette extremely glad that her own support role was a temporary one, and that she would be back in the field shortly after she gave birth to what she and Oliver had recently learned was going to be their baby daughter.

Unfortunately, Danny Brickwell had not been the only opponent that Oliver and his team had to worry about the past couple of weeks. HIVE, and more specifically, a man known only as Bane (Batman had told Oliver and Isabel over the phone, after Isabel had apologized for her rash words about Bruce and his parents, an apology which the Batman seemed to ignore, that he had recently discovered that "Tom Hardy" was merely an alias that Bane used from time to time) were starting to make their presence known in Starling City in the form of a new designer drug that was just starting to sweep the streets of Starling City. A drug called Venom.

It had been Thea, and shortly thereafter, her boyfriend Roy, who had accidentally discovered that this drug which had previously only been sold in Gotham City and some parts of Asia, was now in Starling City, when Oliver's sister had stumbled upon a man trying to sell drugs in the Verdant. Naturally, after telling Roy what she had seen, Thea had tried to call the cops, but the black clad drug dealer had reacted violently to this action by throwing a chair through six inches of Plexiglas window right into the manager's office, just before said individual tried to attack Thea. In the end, it had taken Thea, Roy, and 5 bouncers to subdue the strength-enhanced drug dealer, who killed himself with a cyanide capsule before the cops could arrive to take him to jail. However, before the criminal's body was carted away, Thea had spotted the tell-tale markings on the dealer's neck, markings that Batman had warned Oliver to look for, which identified the dead man as a member of HIVE.

Unfortunately, none of those events had been as personally nerve-racking for Isabel as training Oliver's exes to be vigilantes had been. Training Helena was an exceptionally harrowing endeavor because…

"Hey, crazy lady! I don't want no trouble, especially with a pregnant woman, I just needed some money! I don't know how you kept up with me, but if you don't get out of my way, I'm going to have to cut you open!"

Isabel, having just gotten her breath back, glared at the shaking man in front of her for interrupting her hurried thoughts. It honestly didn't bother Isabel much that the man in front of her had just pulled out a knife, however, since he was now quivering like a leaf, and the Russian-American woman doubted that the individual in front of her could properly use the blade in his hand at the present moment. Still, the obvious fact that the man had just pointed out, that Isabel was pregnant, gave the woman pause, and caused her not to act on her immediate impulse to attack the man in front of her. Instead, the heroine took a different approach to the situation.

Isabel huffed in annoyance then spoke. "Fine. I'll get out of your way. I have plenty of money, and I don't really need the cash in that purse. But first, I will need you to hand me the bottle of medicine in the front zipper of my hand bag. I need it to keep my baby healthy."

The muscular man in front of her paused for several seconds, as he looked between Isabel and her purse repeatedly. After rolling her eyes, Isabel added. "Please." However, the Midnight Sentinel was seething internally, and she was already preparing to attack the man in front of her if he did not comply with her request.

Surprisingly, though, the black haired, blue-eyed purse snatcher opened the front of Isabel's purse, carefully inspected the brown bottle with white pills that he found inside the pocket, then tossed Isabel the bottle before waving his knife around. "There's your stupid pills, crazy lady! Now get out of my way!"

Pills in hand, Isabel stood still for five seconds with a contemplative expression on her face. However, after several seconds, the Midnight Sentinel sighed, then turned to walk away from the alleyway and get a cab to go home to the Queen mansion, while mentally reminding herself to cancel her credit cards at the very first opportunity. Unfortunately, those five seconds costed Isabel.

"Hey, wait a second!" Isabel turned around, noticing as she did so that the thief's hands had stopped shaking, and the vacant look that had been present in his eyes ever since Isabel had gotten her first good look at him had vanished, replaced by a dark, malevolent clarity. "I know who you are now, crazy bitch! Your face is all over the news these days! You're Isabel Rochev, Prince Queen's main squeeze, and you're going to have his brat! Ha ha! I've finally hit the jackpot!"

The thief threw Miss Rochev's purse to the side of the alleyway and advanced towards Isabel at a hurried pace while the latter party took on the best defensive stance that she could, considering her larger than usual belly was weighing her down, throwing off her balance somewhat. The large man smiled, then said. "And to think I was just going to let you walk away when you had the audacity to chase after me! The ransom that I'm going to get for you is going to be so huge, one Robin Terrence won't have to be sober again for the rest of his li…"

The thief's words were cut short after Isabel side-stepped Robin's right arm, which had been extended towards her neck, then punched the purse snatcher right in the throat! Isabel smirked after Robin was left gasping for air, with his left hand over his throat. That moment of celebration also cost Isabel.

With almost lightning speed, the thief slashed at Isabel's hand, the one which had just punched him, with the blade in his left hand!

Pain shot through Isabel's hand, then her entire arm, after Robin slashed at the brunette. But Isabel's retaliation was swift, and the Midnight Sentinel was able to recover from her injury, collect her wits, and knee her attacker in the groin a mere 2.5 seconds after being slashed by the robber's knife!

After that point, the battle between Isabel and her attacker was all but over, as Isabel repeatedly punched her attacker in the head before he had any chance to recover. The Midnight Sentinel showed no mercy to Robin as she gave her attacker a black eye, a broken nose, and a busted jaw in retaliation for attacking her. So great was Isabel's rage at the man for attacking not only her, but also her unborn child, that not even Oliver's speech about what it meant to be a hero, which he had given her the night she had killed Slade Wilson, was able to calm her down. In the end, it was only her concern about what would happen to her baby if she continued to exert herself that caused Isabel to allow Robin to descend into the blessed, albeit temporary, relief from pain that unconsciousness bestowed upon the criminal.

It was only after Robin had been beaten into a comatose state that Isabel's formerly adrenaline spiked body allowed her to notice how much pain she, and more specifically, her right hand, was in. The heroine simultaneously flinched in horror and cried out in pain when she saw that her right hand was covered with blood and that both her right index and ring finger had been cut off at the knuckle. However, Isabel's pain and fear soon gave way to puzzlement and a very different kind of alarm when she noticed something else: something red was starting to grow out of her two fingers where they had been cut! Frozen in shock, Isabel silently watched as first muscles and tendons, then bone, and finally, skin, grew out of the stumps in her shortened fingers until, only minutes later, two whole fingers rested on Isabel's right hand where two stumps had been!

"Ahhhh! What the hell are you lady?!"

The startled cry of her attacker, who was now conscious and shaking, but still lying on the ground in the alleyway, that broke Isabel out of her spell, and the woman's hazel orbs turned from a gaze of wonder to a glare as they met the blue eyes of her attacker, who had evidently woken up in time to see her finish regrowing her two missing fingers, as she spoke in a low, but clear, voice. "I'm your worst nightmare if you tell anyone what you just saw tonight! You got that!?"

Robin let out a squeak before nodding his head, then passing out again, but the man's words had already brought Isabel back to her senses, and the woman quickly snapped into action, picking up her purse, as well as the two finger fragments which had dropped to the ground in the alleyway, before pulling her water bottle out of her purse and taking some of the medication she had retrieved from the purse snatcher. Although she felt rather winded, hungry and thirsty, Isabel was quickly able to come up with a plan of action, and seconds later, the heroine called Captain Lance to pick up the perp in the alleyway before flagging down a cab in the street to drive her straight to STAR Labs in Central City to get herself, her baby, and her two "missing" finger pieces, which now seemed longer to Isabel than they had been a few minutes ago, checked out by Dr. Snow.

While in the back of the cab, after calling and waking up Dr. Snow, Isabel called Oliver and told Oliver about the events which had taken place over the last half hour or so, minus certain sensitive details she didn't want the driver to hear, and told her fiancé/husband that she was going to see her doctor in Central City to make sure that she and the baby were still okay. After several minutes of reassuring Oliver that she was fine, and that he didn't have to blame himself for allowing Isabel to come to harm, Isabel was able to get the Emerald Archer off of the line, but only after the heir to the Queen fortune made her promise that she would be more careful from now on, and that she would have a talk with him later about keeping her and the baby safer in the future.

Shortly Isabel hung up the phone, she was possessed by an irresistible hunger. The Russian woman didn't know whether or not her hunger was a result of her feeling factor being in overdrive minutes ago, her pregnancy cravings, which were even more powerful than the cravings of normal pregnant woman, since Isabel's pregnancy was such a rapid one, or both, but at the moment Isabel didn't care. All she knew was that she needed to get something to eat fast! Therefore, Isabel ordered her cabbie to make a stop at the nearest drive through (although the heroine privately hoped it would be somewhere that had something remotely healthy on the menu) and promised herself that she would exercise some self-control and not eat an embarrassing amount of food, as she had at her last meal.

However, even as the cab pulled into the drive-thru of a place Isabel didn't recognize and the heroine looked at the menu, her thoughts were on the strange events of the last two weeks, and tonight in particular. As Isabel silently ruminated on these events while the cab drove her up to the window to pick up food that Isabel didn't even recall ordering, the Russian woman came to two conclusions. One, her life, and the lives of everyone in team Arrow, was about to get a lot harder. And two, that her world was getting weirder by the second.

 **AN: Hello, readers! Sorry for the late chapter post, and how short this story entry is, but things have been kind of hectic where I live, with Christmas being right around the corner, and I haven't been able to get anything written until recently. As always, I would like to thank all my readers, including those who reviewed my last chapter, Pootamis, Highlander348, Phillipe363, Troll99, Ravenmore45, and WinterRain36! It has only been your encouragement and loyalty which have inspired me to finally continue putting the finishing touches on my Olibel trilogy.**

 **I hope you all have a Merry Christmas (or whatever it is that you all celebrate this time of year) and a happy New Year, as I probably won't have my next chapter posted until January. In the meantime, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and think of it as my gift for you all this holiday season. However, as always, please don't hesitate to tell me what you really thought of this chapter through reviews and/or PM. Your responses help me to continuously improve my writing! And last, but certainly not least, thanks go out to my beloved beta-reader, without whom my writing would resemble the aftermath of a tornado mixed with a volcano (and yes, that is a reference to something, if any of you can spot it let me know!).**

 **Until next time, I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and/or holiday season! I am….**

 **-supercode**


	3. It's a NIce Day for aPart 1

Several hours later…

After Oliver had rushed to STAR labs, greeted Isabel with a hug, made sure his "wife" was alright, and assured her that the mugger she had just stopped had been high when he saw Isabel regenerate and thought he had hallucinated the whole thing, Oliver and Isabel looked at the sonograms that the STAR labs team had taken of Isabel's baby. The couple also looked at the now full-length figure that had grown from the finger fragments that had been cut off of Isabel's fully healed hand, while simultaneously trying to understand all of the technobabble that Dr. Snow was throwing at them, while Barry, and Cisco just nodded. Seeing the looks on the faces of the married/engaged couple, Caitlin tried explaining what she had just said again. "Sorry. I'm used to working with other scientists, and explaining things in more technical terms. Basically, what I said about your baby, Isabel, is that she is doing fine, other than the fact that she is still developing very rapidly in your womb and is having an unusual amount of brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is the area of the brain responsible for higher cognitions such as…"

Isabel frowned and said. "Oliver and I know what the prefrontal cortex is. Just because we're not doctors, doesn't mean that we're du…"

"Actually…" Oliver looked sheepishly at Isabel before speaking to Dr. Snow. "Isabel is the more…formally educated of the two of us. She graduated with a Master's in business, while I barely passed high school, before dropping out of college. Although to be fair, I didn't formally drop out of the last college I was in, since I was shipwrecked on an island for five years in the middle of the semester and…"

Isabel sighed before cutting off Oliver's words with her own. "All I remember is that the pre-frontal cortex is one of the primary areas of the brain responsible for conscious thought and decision making. But it seems kind of odd that there is a lot of brain activity there already."

Dr. Snow nodded. "Odd doesn't even begin to cover it! Most fetuses don't have nearly this much brain activity, or even have as fully formed a cerebral cortex, as your child does, Mr. and Mrs. Queen! Wait, can I call you that now? Because you two told me you two got married on Nanda Parbat, but you haven't made it legal yet, and…"

Isabel smirked and said. "Technically, my last name is still Rochev, but I will respond to either Rochev or Queen around my friends, since Oliver and I already consider ourselves married, even if it's not on paper yet, and my last name will be Rochev-Queen after we go through the ridiculous circus of a wedding that my mother-in-law has planned for Oliver and I to take part in to 'salvage the Queen family name' before the baby is born. But Oliver and I agreed I could do the hyphen with my old last name attached to the Queen name, something Moira wasn't too happy about, because I still want to honor the memory of my foster parents who adopted me when I was nine, flew me all the way to America, and loved and took care of me until the day they died. And I just realized that I'm way more nervous than I should be right now and that I'm rambling as much as Felicity usually does and can someone please shut me up…"

Oliver hugged Isabel as tight as he dared, until only their clothing prevented Oliver's abs from touching Isabel's pregnant belly. "Hey, it's okay. We're dealing with a lot of stressful situations right now, with this attempted mugging only being the most recent, and you have been handling it really, really well, despite the fact that Dr. Snow said that your pregnancy would mean that your hormones and appetite…"

Oliver tensed his muscles and stopped talking, but Isabel just laughed and hugged Oliver a little tighter. "Would be all over the place, making me hyper-emotional and jumpy as hell, while making me eat like a pig?! Yeah, it…hasn't been fun, Oliver. But it's helped me that you have been here for me as much as your duties to the League and team Arrow have allowed for you to be…"

Oliver withdrew from his hug with Isabel slightly, and there was a look of determination in his eyes when he looked at his "wife's" face. "You aren't a pig, Isabel. You're pregnant. There's a big difference. But, obviously, tonight has shown me that I haven't been there for you enough, nor has the rest of team Arrow. You should never have been left alone, Isabel, especially so late at night. That's why, from now on, there will always be at least one other member of Team Arrow, or a small team of assassins, watching out for you 24/7 and…"

Before Oliver could continue speaking, however, Dr. Snow interrupted him. "Anyway, I hate to break up your little moment here, but I do have some other work here tonight trying to help Barry catch Central City's newest, and strangest villain, which we have decided to call Zoom."

Isabel nodded at Oliver and gave him a tender look while mouthing "We'll talk later." Meanwhile, Dr. Snow resumed talking. "Your baby is perfectly healthy, Mr. and Mrs. Queen, even though it is developing rapidly, thanks to the medicine we gave Isabel. But tonight's events have revealed something which may, potentially be more interesting. Isabel, you may have noticed that the part of your fingers which were cut off your hand have, themselves, grown since they were cut off your fingers, in addition to your fingers themselves healing…"

Isabel looked at Oliver, but his expression was unreadable, so the brunette turned back to the Doctor and said. "Obviously, I couldn't fail to notice that the slivers of my fingers which were cut off have grown into whole fingers. What of it?!"

Dr. Snow sighed and handed the "new" fingers, in a plastic bag, to Barry Allen. "Barry, could you please throw these into the burner we use to dispose of bio-hazards before I explain why this could be a very bad thing to our guests?"

Barry nodded. "Will do." Then, before another word could be spoken, Barry disappeared, then reappeared in a place close to, but not exactly the same as, the spot he just vacated, less than a second later. Isabel's eyes widened, and everyone else in the room had to fight the urge to laugh at the brunette's reaction to seeing the Flash's speed in action for the first time, before the young blonde man spoke again. "Done."

Dr. Snow smirked, but continued speaking without laughing. "Basically, Isabel from what our instruments at the lab could measure, it seems the portion of your fingers that were cut off are…or were, before we destroyed those seconds ago, still growing. And honestly, I have no idea when it would stop. Now, this wouldn't happen to smaller cluster of cells that you would say, lose every day from your skin, and there probably wasn't enough complex cells to grow a whole body in those piece of fingers, but they might have grown into another arm and…let's just say that you should really try to not to lose anything more important, especially your head…"

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah. Seeing as that would probably kill me and all, I would say that would probably be a good idea to avoid losing my head."

Dr. Snow frowned before she said. "Yes, decapitation **might** kill you…

A chill went down Isabel's spine at the way Dr. Snow said "might" before Caitlyn continued talking. "But, then again, based off the data I'm getting from this finger…"

The doctor shrugged. "…if your head and body were separated too long….they might both regenerate into two distinct, but physically identical, entities instead."

Barry raised an eyebrow. "You're saying Isabel's body could clone itself?"

Dr. Snow shrugged again. "Theoretically…"

Cisco put his hand on his chin, then his face morphed from a serious expression to a playful one as he said. "So, there could be two Isabel's running around if she sustained serious damage?"

Caitlin shrugged and frowned at the same time. "Again, theoretically. Although I doubt the head that grew from Isabel's body if that happened would have any of her memories."

"But still…" Cisco raised his eyebrows as he added. "There would be two of her."

Cisco was smirking now as he turned to Oliver. "So, what do you think, Oliver? If your wife became two people, would that make you guilty of polygamy, or would both Isabels still be counted as one person? Because if so, the potential for human rights violations against clones could be huge and…"

Barry and Caitlin looked at Cisco and yelled simultaneously. "Cisco!" while the brunette woman in the room glared at the young scientist.

However, Oliver quickly picked up on Cisco's game of trying to make light of Isabel's situation so that everyone in the room would be less anxious about Isabel's regenerating ability, and the Arrow smirked before adding. "I don't know about that, Cisco. But if something like that were to happen, I might just have to take one for the team and find out!"

Oliver had a playful grin on his face before he turned towards Isabel. "After all, it wouldn't be the first time I've dated twins! And I would be married to the most beautiful set in the world!"

Isabel quickly figured out what Oliver was up to, and a playful grin appeared on the brunette's face as well, but she still pretended to be indignant at her husband's words. Therefore, the Midnight Sentinel frowned at the Arrow before she and Dr. Snow shared a look, nodded, then simultaneously slapped Oliver and Cisco on their right arms and shouted: "Men!" before the bride of the Demon stormed out of the room.

However, as she walked out the front doors to STAR labs, with a frantically apologetic Oliver hot on her heels, Isabel couldn't help but smile at Oliver's indirect compliment that he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. After recent events, especially tonight, when she had been out of breath from running down a common purse snatcher for a scant two minutes, the Midnight Sentinel silently acknowledged that it was nice to hear that her husband still saw her as beautiful, and not as the cow that she felt she was every time she looked in the mirror lately. Even so, Isabel still felt that the birth of her daughter, which would give her the chance to formally meet the precious life that had been growing in her womb the past several months…then regain her old, fit body, couldn't come soon enough.

* * *

Several days later…

Isabel sighed as she watched her four trainees take turns sparring against each other in the Arrow cave, which had formerly been a base for ARGUS. As she did so, she silently lamented the lack of progress that Felicity had been making in her training lately, since the tech expert had been spending more of her time helping the STAR labs team in Central City, as well as team Arrow, all while managing her responsibilities to Queen Consolidated. Recently, it had been Felicity's combat training which had taken a backseat, as the bespectacled executive assistant seemed to have made zero progress in her martial arts skills since dialing back on her self-defense lessons a month ago. The Midnight Sentinel was thankful, however, that Felicity's lack of training as of late had not resulted in her skills diminishing, and that her husband's executive assistant still had a strong left hook. Still, the Midnight Sentinel still felt the need to chastise her pupil a little. "I told you to always keep your right arm up in combat, Felicity! Otherwise, Thea is going to keep hitting you from that side! But you would have known that already if you had been training more, wouldn't you?! Don't worry though, just a couple more training lessons a week, and we can get your form down pat in no time!"

Felicity merely nodded in response to her trainer's words, but Isabel noticed the blonde didn't let her right arm down the rest of the evening.

Laurel wasn't fairing much better than Felicity in her sparring matches today, but the Midnight Sentinel silently conceded that this was mostly due Oliver's ex being rather new at training to be a vigilante. Surprisingly, Laurel had already cemented herself, in Isabel's mind, as the Midnight Sentinel's best trainee. There were several reasons that Isabel felt this way, among them were Laurel's obvious determination to become a hero like her friends, and eventually, just as good a vigilante as her sister had been before the Canary and Nyssa's disappearance.

This determination exhibited itself in numerous ways, such as the brown haired woman taking almost as many defense lessons a week from the Midnight Sentinel as Thea did, Oliver's longtime friend and ex not complaining, much, about Isabel's brutal training regime, and most of all, an openness to being instructed and general humility. Laurel Lance was still very green as a fighter, and Isabel thought it might be a few more weeks before the slightly younger woman was ready to hit the streets with Team Arrow, but at least Laurel was well aware of her shortcomings…and was eager to soak up like a sponge any instructions that Isabel gave her in order to increase her skills. As a result, Laurel had already surpassed Felicity's level of combat readiness.

Furthermore, since Tommy had been raised from the dead and was back in Laurel's life, the eldest Lance daughter's temper had cooled off considerably, and she no longer seemed to harbor any hard feelings for Oliver, and by extension, Isabel. On the contrary, Laurel had stated several times over the past month or so that she hoped Isabel and Oliver would remain happy together throughout their lives and that their baby would be healthy and born without incident. The older Lance girl had even invited Isabel and Oliver to a couple of work parties at CNRI, and was getting along so well with both Isabel and her ex that the Midnight Sentinel was considering adding Laurel to her small list of friends sometime in the near future. But most importantly, Isabel smirked as she thought to herself, even while shouting at the protégé in question that: "You need to keep your eye on your footwork, Laurel, or Helena is just going to keep sweep kicking your legs out from under you!", Laurel knew her place. The eldest Lance girl was Oliver's longtime friend and **ex** -girlfriend, and she accepted that, unlike **some** people…

Willing herself to push her thoughts into a more positive direction, Isabel turned her attention to her prized pupil: Thea Queen. Isabel couldn't quite put her finger on what made the youngest member of Team Arrow, who now went by the name Athena when she prowled the streets in her secret identity (Felicity had suggested Artemis would be a better codename for Thea, but Helena had objected that label was too close to her own "Huntress" moniker), so special. Maybe it was the fact that Oliver's sister trained more times a week, between her sessions with Isabel and Roy, than any other member of Team Arrow (including Isabel, since the Midnight Sentinel was currently afraid to do more than stretches and other easy exercises for physical activity, considering the unusual nature of her pregnancy). Or perhaps it was because of her heritage, both the stubborn streak she had learned from the Queen family, and the physical aptitude that Isabel begrudgingly admitted Thea may have inherited from the Dark Archer. Or perhaps it was just the fact that Thea was thirsty to prove herself and step out of her boyfriend and brother's shadows as a hero in her own right (a truth Thea had told Isabel once when they were watching a movie after a long training session, and the Midnight Sentinel had promised to tell no one). Or more likely, Isabel thought to herself with a grin, it was all of these factors, as well as Thea's complete obedience to Isabel's tutelage (during training sessions, in the field was another matter), which had lead her become Isabel's best, if not yet her most skilled, student.

Therefore, the Midnight Sentinel admitted to herself that she had high hopes for Athena, even as she shouted at her star pupil to: "Remember to never let your guard down, Thea! Even against an opponent who you think is less skilled than yourself!" In time, Isabel believed that Thea may actually surpass even herself in hand to hand combat, as the young Queen woman already did with a bow and arrow, but the Midnight Sentinel believed that would take her young protégé years to accomplish...and that Thea would never be able to touch her teacher's skill with a blade.

Isabel's smile turned to a frown, however, as she turned from her most gifted student to her most bothersome one. As expected, Helena wasn't showing her sparing opponent, Laurel Lance, any mercy at all, despite the Huntress' possession of several years of combat experience over Laurel. As a result, the eldest Lance was already in possession of several bruises from her sparring match with Helena tonight. Isabel's frown deepened when she saw Helena give Laurel a particularly strong right cross to her face. A blow that would surely leave a large bruise on Laurel's cheek that would be hard for the woman to explain to her bosses with the District Attorney's office…in addition to the pain that Helena's blows had already caused the eldest female Lance.

The Midnight Sentinel choose that moment to step between Helena and Laurel while glaring at the former party. "That's enough! I've told you several times tonight to take it easy, Helena! You aren't actually fighting Laurel, this is a practice sparring match. You got it?! Go take five. I think you need to cool off!"

Isabel didn't wait for a reply as she turned back to Laurel. "Are you okay, Laurel?"

The eldest Lance girl nodded her head and Isabel almost smiled as she turned to leave for the base's kitchen area. "Good. I'll go get you ice pack for that bruise forming on your face. With a little make-up, we might be able to conceal it enough to…"

"Hey!" Helena screamed at Isabel's retreating back. "You don't get to talk to me that way! Who the hell died and made you Queen anyway!?"

The Midnight Sentinel turned around, but before she could remind the Huntress that the two of them and Oliver had agreed that Isabel would be in charge of Helena's training, the Huntress smirked and added. "Oh, that's right, you won't officially become a Queen for another couple of months, when you have that big, fancy wedding of yours. Although at the rate you are blowing up like a balloon, you may have to push that event forward a couple months if you don't want to look like a white whale in your wedding dress. But maybe by then, I'll be able to make Oliver see he is with the wrong woman and…"

"Enough!" Isabel snarled at the Huntress. "I have had it with you, Helena! You agreed to work with Team Arrow under my guidance when Oliver got you out of prison using who knows what legal maneuvering and accusations of police entrapment. And you have helped this team in some ways, taking out a few of HIVE's Venom enhanced Ghosts and helping us bring down Brick, but otherwise, you have been nothing but a disrespectful pain in our collective asses! You won't listen to either Oliver or myself in training or in the field, other than keeping your promise not to kill people, which you have just barely kept while sending several thugs to the emergency room in critical condition! Also, you have used all of my other trainees like punching bags, lording your combat experience over them, all while insulting me at every turn while you keep flirting with my husband, and he is my husband, Helena, even if it's not on paper yet, despite Oliver ignoring or outright refusing you at every turn! I won't put up with it, any of it, anymore, Helena, and let me just say that you are **lucky** that I am pregnant right now, or I would be kicking your ass right now for hurting my other students unnecessarily during sparring matches, your disrespect, your repeated insults, and your complete lack of respect for authority! Just because you taught yourself to fight over several years, that does not make it okay to treat other people like shit, and it certainly doesn't mean that you don't have more to learn, which you won't do because you already seem to think you know everything! As it is, I'm going to recommend that Oliver cut you off from Team Arrow until your attitude improves!"

Thea raised her hand immediately. "I second that motion!" Artemis looked at Helena from the side of her eyes. "Bitch. I've had enough of you insulting my sister in-law and future niece or nephew all the time, anyway!"

Laurel and Felicity also raised their hands. "I agree. "Me too, I'm tired of being used as the Huntress' punching bag!"

Helena glared at all four of the other females in the room. "Whatever. I don't care what you four think about me! I taught myself to fight after my fiancé died! I created the Huntress from nothing! And the only opinion that matters is Oliver's anyway! If I could persuade him to get me out of prison, I'm sure I can persuade him to keep me on this team, and eventually…"

The Huntress smirked and walked towards Isabel until she was less than a foot away from the Midnight Sentinel. "I will be able to make Oliver see that he's better off without his huge cow of a fiancée! Mark my words, as soon as that baby is born, whether you and he are married by then or not, I will make Oliver mine!"

Isabel didn't put any thought into what she did next. She was simply too full of hormonally amplified fury at Helena's words and recent actions to think straight. So before she even realized what was happening, the Midnight Sentinel had the Huntress pinned to a wall, with both of her hands over her former trainee's neck! "Shut the hell up, Helena! You don't know what the hell you are talking about!"

Despite Helena's attempts to free herself while her limbs thrashed around wildly, as well as Thea, Felicity, and Laurel's entreaties to "Stop it, Isabel!" The Midnight Sentinel's mind was too clouded by a red mist of fury to care about such things, and it seemed like nothing could break Isabel out of her enraged state until another, male voice came from the entrance to the training room. "Isabel! Stop that right now and put Helena down!"

Isabel let go of the now smirking Helena at the sound of Oliver Queen's voice. The Midnight Sentinel ignored the fact that the Arrow, Red Arrow, and Spartan (aka John Diggle) had all showed up to their own training sessions early, and she was only looking at her husband when she spoke. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I shouldn't have laid hands on Helena. I'm just having trouble managing my emotions right now because of this freakish pregnancy. But still, I was way out of line…"

"Damn right you were, you bitch!"

The Huntress ran towards the Midnight Sentinel with one of her clenched fists headed in the former heroine's direction, but the daughter of the former mob boss was quickly restrained by both Thea and Laurel before Oliver's younger sister turned towards the Arrow while Helena continued to thrash against her captors in a helpless rage. "Yeah. About that, Ollie, I'm not saying it was a good idea for Isabel to try to choke the life out of Helena, but…after the way that the Huntress has been acting towards all of us lately, especially your wife, well…Helena had something like that coming to her."

Even as Laurel and Felicity nodded, Helena stopped struggling, widened her eyes and forced a single tear to slide out of her right eye. "That is a malicious lie! I have never been anything but respectful to your family and friends, Oliver."

Oliver signaled his sister and longtime friend to let Helena go, and they reluctantly obeyed, but the glare he had been shooting in Helena's direction since after Isabel had let the Huntress go did not leave his eyes as he spoke. "Save it, Helena. I knew your behavior had been….inappropriate this last month or so…Flirting with me when I told you that I was married to Isabel and wasn't interested in you romantically anymore, not following orders in the field, roughing up criminals more than you had to in order to take them down…but this? I didn't want to believe Isabel when she told me about how you had been talking to her yesterday, or that you had been abusing your teammates in the sparring ring. Because even at your worst, I saw that there was some good in you, and I thought you were slowly becoming that better person after I got you out of prison. However, Isabel's words made me doubt that conclusion. So I asked Felicity, and she pretty much confirmed my wife's words, and let me watch some of your worst behavior in action as Diggle, Roy and I watched your training session tonight. And I'm ashamed to say, your behavior was even worse than Isabel told me it was. So effective immediately, I hereby declare that you, Helena Bertinelli, are now suspended from participating in Team Arrow activities, including training sessions or missions, and that you will no longer be allowed admittance to the Arrow Cave. Indefinitely. Until you can prove that your behavior and attitude had substantially improved. Because I will not allow anyone to treat my friends and family the way you have."

The Arrow turned towards his teammates one by one. "Does anyone else have any objections to this course of action?"

One by one, all of Oliver's friends and family members that were present shook their heads, while John Diggle added. "No, man. You got to do what you got to do. Besides, I told you Helena was bad news the first time I saw you with her a couple years ago."

Oliver cleared his throat. "Yes. That you did, Diggle."

The Arrow then turned back toward Helena with a stoic look on his face and stretched his hand out in her direction. "I will be needing your key to the Arrow Cave now, Helena."

Helena glared at her ex, then wordlessly withdrew the key out of a pocket in her Huntress uniform and handed it to the Arrow before she started walking out of the former Argus base, and the Arrow turned back towards his wife and began speaking, even while Isabel was starting to apologize for choking Helena again. "No. I should be the one to apologize, Isabel. I knew Helena was becoming a problem, but I just thought it was taking her awhile to right herself and correct her behavior. That she just needed a little time to learn how to be a better person. I thought if I gave her that chance, the same chance I gave you, that she would get better over time. That being said, I never dreamed that she was treating you…."

Oliver looked at Isabel, Thea, Laurel, and Felicity in turn. "All of you, this badly. And I can't believe it took this long for any of you to tell me that the Huntress' behavior had gotten this out of hand…"

Isabel shook her head. "I know I should have told you sooner, Oliver. But you have enough to worry about right now, and we all thought you needed all the allies you could get against HIVE. Even the more unstable ones."

"You better watch who you call unstable, you bitch!" Helena returned to the training room, crossbow in hand, and she was in the process of aiming said crossbow at Isabel's left shoulder….When Oliver swiftly drew his bow plus one arrow and shot the hand that Helena was using to balance her crossbow, forcing the Huntress to drop her weapon as she screamed "Ahhhh!"

The Arrow's eyes narrowed in fury as he spoke to Helena again while notching another arrow in his bow. "You make one more wrong move, Helena, and the next arrow goes in your heart! I should have let you rot in prison! The only reason you aren't dead right now is because of our history, and how you have helped me in the past, but if you ever try to hurt any of my friends or family again, including my unborn child, I will end you, do you understand!"

Helena was still gasping in pain while holding her wounded hand, but she still nodded while taking the arrow out of her hand before the Arrow resumed speaking. "I want you out of Starling within 24 hours Helena. And don't bother coming back after that. "

Helena's face hardened but she didn't bother to say anything as she left the Arrow Cave, without her crossbow, while Oliver hollered after her. "And if you still want to try the whole vigilante thing somewhere else, try Gotham! Maybe the Batman can whip you into shape and make you a decent hero, but as for me…I'm all out of patience with you. The Huntress isn't welcome in Starling anymore!"

As the Huntress left the former Argus base, Isabel breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad that at least her conflict with the Huntress was over. Now she, Oliver and Team Arrow just had to worry about everything else, like HIVE, Oliver's unpaid debt to the Bratva organization, the birth of her and Oliver's child…and the upcoming wedding of Oliver Queen and Isabel Rochev….

* * *

….Almost a month later…

Today's wedding ceremony between Oliver Queen and Isabel Rochev was shaping up to be the wedding of the year…if not the entire decade. The problem was, it wasn't even remotely the kind of wedding either the bride or groom wanted.

Despite all of the care that Moira Queen had obviously put into planning this event, as evidenced by the numerous ice sculptures, flower arrangements, and other decorations in the church today's festivities were to be held in, there were numerous reasons that the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel were not happy with the wedding the Queen matriarch had planned for them.

First of all, there was the issue of the location. Neither Oliver nor Isabel were very religious, but Moira Queen had still insisted that a Queen wedding had to be held in a Roman Catholic Church. This made Oliver upset because he felt hypocritical being married in a church that his "Catholic" family only ever set foot in for weddings and funerals. And Isabel was upset because, despite being like Oliver in that she was not an atheist, but did not subscribe to any particular religious faith, she had always liked the style of the Eastern Orthodox churches that her adoptive family, the Rochevs, had taken her to every Sunday between her ninth birthday and her foster family's deaths, more than Roman Catholic architecture. However, the setting of the wedding was at least made bearable by the fact that Father Wilcox, the priest that oversaw this particular church, and had done so since Oliver had attended Rebecca Merlyn's funeral as a child, was a kindly old man who did not give Oliver or his family members any grief over their…sporadic attendance to mass. Nor did the priest, whose eyes were just as gray as his hair, which had a large bald spot in the middle, mention the fact that the bride was obviously already very pregnant at any point while he was collaborating with the Queens to plan the wedding.

Another problem that Oliver and Isabel had with "Moira's wedding", which is what pretty much was, in all but name, was the guest lists. Although several of Oliver's friends and family members were present at the event, including all of Teams Arrow and Flash, Captain Lance, Moira Queen, and Walter Steele (Bruce Wayne had also received an invitation, but he had called Oliver to tell him that he was, regrettably, busy with Batman related concerns), there were also many people at the ceremony that Oliver and Isabel either didn't know or didn't care about.

However, although the list of rich and prominent people that Mayor Queen was trying to impress with her son's wedding was long, there was only one person in attendance to Oliver and Isabel's wedding that both the bride and groom actively disliked, and that was SCPD Police Chief Frank Fishburne, a man that Mayor Queen had once had the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel formally meet, several weeks ago, to discuss ways that the vigilantes in Starling might be able to assist the cops in keeping Starling City safe. It had not gone well. Although, as per his initial agreement with the Mayor, the chief had not tried to arrest the married vigilantes during the meeting, the chief had refused to grant the vigilantes amnesty towards any of their past and future "crimes" that they had/would pursue in the name of justice. Nor had he taken the already visibly pregnant Midnight Sentinel seriously, and had even commented at one point that "this is why women don't belong on the front lines of the war on crime. They're too emotional and bound to get knocked up at any time, making them completely useless in a firefight! A woman's place is in the home!" Needless, to say, the Arrow and the Midnight Sentinel had walked out of the meeting at that point, and after Moira heard about the way the police chief had behaved, the Queen matriarch had vowed to sack Fishburne at the first opportunity and replace him with Captain Lance. Until then, however, both Oliver and Isabel were forced to put up with the presence of the misogynistic police chief at public events like this one.

All of these problems fading into the background of Oliver Queen's mind, however, when he saw his once-again bride enter the church. Despite wearing a rather traditional wedding dress (although the garment had to be modified several times due to the growth spurts caused by Isabel's unusual pregnancy, which now made her look like she was about 8 months along) with a simple white veil, the Arrow couldn't help but be awed by his wife's beauty as he reminded himself how lucky he was to have a woman like the Midnight Sentinel in his life. Oliver couldn't help but note that, in his eyes, his wife/fiancé's pregnancy did not diminish her beauty in the slightest. On the contrary, the glow she held about her these days only made her looks even more ravishing. As a result, Oliver was completely spellbound by Isabel's appearance after she walked down the aisle and joined him at the altar, and Oliver paid no attention to his surrounding, including the wedding guests or his best man, John Diggle, and he only paid enough attention to Father Wilcox's words to say his vows and insert "I do" in the appropriate places.

The only person, in fact, who was able to take Oliver's concentration off his beautiful bride was his own son, Connor Hawke-Queen (after Oliver had legally had his son's last name changed, with Connor's permission of course, to reflect that he was now officially part of the Queen family). Since Moira Queen had suggested that Connor should be the ring bearer for Oliver and Isabel's wedding ceremony, and that had been one of the few suggestion concerning this wedding that everyone in the Queen family, including Isabel, had unanimously agreed with, it was the youngest member of the Queen family who walked into the church near the end of the ceremony and presented the wedding rings for his father and step-mother to give to each other. Both Oliver and Isabel looked down with pride at their son/stepson as the little boy puffed out his chest while performing his ceremonial duties, which Moira and Thea had assured him were very important. The Arrow and the Midnight Sentinel, who had both come to love Connor very much in a very short amount of time were thankful that the child in front of them had not only enthusiastically agreed to be the ring bearer at this wedding, but also that the little boy's enthusiasm that he was going to have a little brother or sister soon remained undiminished, despite the few times that Isabel's mood swing had resulted in Isabel giving Connor a tongue lashing over minor matters, such as not picking up his toys fast enough after playing with them. Even though Isabel had always apologized to Connor right after any of these incidents, and Connor had always responded that he forgave his "mommy", Oliver knew that his wife would feel bad for hours after every time she lost her temper with Connor. However, Isabel had still resolved that she was still determined to be the best mommy she could to both Connor and her biological daughter, and that she would treat both children like her own in the future, playing no favorites between Connor and her and Oliver's as-yet unborn daughter.

By the time the exchanging of the rings part of the wedding ceremony was completed, Oliver and Isabel's misgiving about the wedding Moira had planned for them had faded away, and when the priest invited Oliver to kiss the bride, he started to bridge the gap between his lips and Isabel's without hesitation….

Until a loud BANG! Made Oliver and Isabel cover their ears, only moments before they noticed that Father Wilcox was now on the floor of the altar, bleeding heavily from a bullet wound to his chest.

Before the bride and group could make since of this fact, gunfire started to erupt from every corner of the cathedral as men with machine guns, ski masks, and dark, tactical armor burst into every entrance of the large room while simultaneously gunning down every single member of the Queen's security personal, which Oliver had "borrowed" from the Bratva for this event, while only sustaining two casualties of their own (the result of two headshots from the Queens bodyguards) as their Venom enhanced bodies allowed them to walk almost effortlessly threw any gunfire that was aimed at their limbs or their torsos. The few wedding guests who tried to leave the room were also gunned down, cowing most of the other guests into submissive gestures of sitting or kneeling with their hands up.

Then, before Oliver could even think the word "Ghosts", another man, a blonde haired individual and unearthly pale eyes who was wearing a dark suit and tie, entered the room and pointed right toward the bride and groom as he addressed his men. "Well boys and girls, our war on Starling City is about to go into full swing! And I can't think of a better way to start doing that then to destroy the princes of Starling City…the Queen family! Starting with these two! Now…."

Damien Darhk's words were punctuated by two of his guards pointing their guns at Oliver and Isabel and preparing to fire. "Let's start this party off with a bang!"

 **AN: Okay, numerous things I want to say here. First of all, I would like to thank all of my readers for continuing this tale with me, especially Pootamis, Phillipe363, Ravenmore45, kindleflame5, nzOptimist, highlander348, and Troll 99, who reviewed my last chapter. Your support is greatly appreciated!**

 **Secondly, in case anyone is wondering, there won't be two Isabels running around at any point during this story, so don't get too excited people. I just wanted to give my readers a general impression of the scope of Isabel's healing powers…and Oliver's reaction to them. However, I have alluded to some important future elements of this story within this chapter, and I am curious if any of you will be able to guess what some of them might be….**

 **Third, as I'm sure you all have noticed by now, I do not like Helena** **Bertinelli (aka the Huntress) as she was presented in the show, and I only had Oliver bring her into Team Arrow out of a mixture of gratitude for volunteering to go on the Nanda Parbat mission in the last story, desperation to beat HIVE at any cost, and Oliver's occasional blind optimism, which sometimes makes him see only the good in people while overlooking their flaws. Although that last quality worked well for setting up an Olibel pairing in this trilogy, it has also caused Oliver to make many rash decisions on the show. In any case, I did believe that Helena, as she was on the show, had any chance of getting along with an equally strong-willed women like Isabel, so she had to go. Maybe she will have better prospects at becoming a true hero under the tutelage of the Batman and his friends, as I believe that character did in the comics, but the Huntress time with team Arrow is over in my story.**

 **Finally, HIVE and Damien Darhk have now entered the story, and I'm anxious to see what you will think about what I do with my versions of those characters, as well as my take on Bane, which you have not actually seen yet…**

 **Again, thank you all for your support, readers. I'm sorry it took me so long to post this chapter, but I will do my best to post the next one faster. I hope you liked the chapter, but please let me know what you really thought of it in a review or PM! Your input is greatly appreciated! And a huge thank you to my beta reader…without whom this chapter would be messier than the aftermath of a Game of Thrones wedding (pick one)! Your help is both necessary and much appreciated!**

 **-supercode**


	4. It's a Nice Day for aPart 2

As soon as Damien Darhk had made his announcement, several thing happened at once.

One, two of Damien's "Ghosts" fired their weapons at Oliver and Isabel. Furthermore, since the members of Team Flash had been forced to leave the ceremony earlier in order to thwart a disaster in Coast City caused by Zoom, most of the people in the room were powerless to do anything about this turn of events. With two exceptions.

The first person who was able to respond to the Ghost's gunfire, due to her close proximity to the wedding altar, was Moira Queen. With strength and urgency that seemed to defy the eldest Queen's age, Moira was just barely able to jump out of her seat and push Isabel, her daughter in-law and the person in closest proximity to the Queen matriarch that was actually in danger, out of the way. Unfortunately, although Moira was successful in saving both her daughter in-law and her unborn grandchild from the gunfire, the Queen matriarch herself received three gunshots in the torso for her trouble and landed on the floor already bleeding.

Tommy Merlyn was also able to react to the gunfire, but in a different way. Calling up the ability he had possessed since being resurrected with the Lazarus Pit, but only discovered a few weeks ago during a short, but intense argument over dinner with Laurel over her decision to become a vigilante like her sister, an argument which had resulted in several dishes flying off of the table and into a wall when Tommy got particularly angry, the sole surviving Merlyn instinctively turned his new emotionally activated telekinetic powers to the bullets heading towards his childhood friend, Oliver Queen. Fortunately, Tommy was able to deflect all but one of the bullets heading towards his friend harmlessly to the ground, while the sole projectile that had evaded Tommy's ability only managed to hit the League of Assassins armor hidden underneath the Arrow's tux, so Oliver only received a bruise, instead of several bullets in his head and limbs. Unfortunately, as had been the case when Tommy had accidentally used his ability during his argument with Laurel, the mental strain his ability caused him made Tommy's nose bleed before, then his head pound, before sweet unconsciousness finally claimed the young meta-human's mind and body, causing him to pass out on the floor.

Within seconds after these other events occurred, Police Chief Fishburne committed his first brave act after nearly 20 years of service to SCPD, which had mostly consisted of Frank kissing the right butts and calling in favors to become one of the most powerful men in Starling City, and the misogynist actually attempted to draw and fire his sidearm at Damien. Unfortunately, this brave, albeit somewhat foolish, act would be Fisburne's last act on this earth. To the astonishment of almost everyone in the room, the bullets that Frank fired towards Damien abruptly stopped in mid-air, then fell to the floor, after the pale eyed man watched the police chief fire his gun. Moment's later, Frank's gun was magically lifted from the his hands and turned over in the air until the barrel of the gun, which still had a single round in the chamber, was facing right at its owner's head. Smiling at his audience's reactions to his mystical feats, which ranged from looks of awe, to screams of horror, to outright disbelief, Damien then proceeded to form his right hand's index finger and thumb in a pantomime gun before pushing his thumb forward to "pull the trigger" while the Police Chief's gun simultaneously discharged it's last bullet into its owner's head, killing him instantly.

Damien grinned while several people in the crowd screamed in terror. "Ha ha ha! I haven't had a chance to have this much fun in public in decades! Too bad none of you will live to tell anybody about what you've seen me do here today! And…"

Before Damien Dark could finish voicing that thought, several assassins burst into the cathedral through various windows, relying on their armor to protect them from the shards of glass their entrance caused to fall to the edges of the room, well away from the crowd. And then, almost immediately, the assassins, among them Sarab and Nathan Falcon, the man Oliver had spared from a death sentence, started firing their own automatic weapons (which they had been taught to use by John Diggle) at the heads of the Ghosts in the room, per Oliver's previous instructions which the now-deceased Bratva bodyguards had tragically ignored.

Predictably, all hell broke loose after that, as Oliver and Co., as well as most of the remaining wedding guests, ran in several different directions. Thea quickly picked up Connor and ran, using the distraction her older brother's assassins had given her to get her nephew out of the room, even as her boyfriend dragged a now unconscious and bleeding Moira Queen away from harm. Meanwhile, per Oliver's instructions to "Get Isabel out of here!", John Diggle reluctantly did exactly that, as he attempted to get a now crying Isabel out of harm's way as said woman's husband tried to create a diversion by shooting several small, potent tranquilizer darts (which were created at STAR labs for the specific purpose of neutralizing Venom enhanced individuals) out the mini crossbow hiding under one of his tuxedo's sleeves, incapacitating several Ghosts in the process.

As he pulled a tranq gun out of his jacket which held the same kind of darts in Oliver's crossbow and began to fire darts at any Ghosts that got between Isabel and the exit, Diggle feared that the brunette's tears indicated she was becoming hysterical, and that she would be useless for combat in her current state. Thankfully, the Midnight Sentinel quickly proved Spartan wrong as she pulled her own dart gun out of a hidden pocket in her wedding dress that her African-American bodyguard hadn't even known was there, and began shooting Ghosts that Diggle missed. In fact, by the time that John and Isabel had reached the rear exit of the cathedral to the parking lot (even as Isabel winced when she heard the thud of a fists hitting someone's face and the sound of Oliver's heartbeat and breathing slowing down), despite the tears that were still running down the brunette's face, Isabel had managed to take down three Ghosts, compared to the five that John had managed to take down.

Unfortunately, any joy that Isabel and John might have felt at taking down so many HIVE agents by themselves was overshadowed by two major problems. One, Isabel knew that Oliver, her husband, was currently in some kind of trouble, although she didn't really know how much. And two, Damien Darhk and about a dozen Ghosts were, somehow, already standing in the back parking lot of the cathedral, blocking any chance of escape for Diggle, Isabel, or the latter's unborn child.

The blond haired, pale eyed man in the dark suit and red tie clapped mockingly at the two heroes after they had been surrounded by Darhk's men. "Bravo! Bravo! You so-called heroes actually managed to set a trap for me! I did not expect that! I mean, my informant in the Assassins, and yes, don't look so shocked, Isabel, your husband has a traitor in his organization, told me that Oliver Queen was the new leader of the League of Assassins, and that he and the Bratva organization were going to try to team up against HIVE to take me down, but I never imagined that your wedding would have so much security! I mean Bratva hit men and assassins?! If your husband wasn't trying to go to war with me, I would say that was overkill, but as it is…"

Damien just shrugged and smiled. "I guess that was just prudent planning. Not that it will save him…"

Seeing the panicked look on Isabel's face, Darhk quickly added. "Oh, don't worry. Oliver's still alive. For now. You see, I was going to give him a quick death with his family, but now he's made trouble for me, and probably cost me at least a dozen soldiers due to tonight's events. So I'm going to make him suffer a little first instead by taking everyone he loves away from him. And I think that killing his best friend, wife, and unborn child would be a great way to start doing that, don't you!? I think I will kill Connor and his sweet aunt Thea next, and finish off Moira Queen after that if she doesn't die from her wound from tonight…"

Diggle rolled his eyes and quickly pulled out a .45 from another hidden pocket in his tuxedo, then aimed that gun right at Darhk's head even as his and Isabel's tranq guns remained pointed at two Ghosts. "Do you ever shut up?! Let us go now or I kill you were you stand, you bastard!"

Darhk laughed. "I guess you weren't convinced of my superiority by my small display of power in the chapel?! Okay then, how about this?" Damien merely looked at Diggle and Isabel's weapons before said guns started to vibrate, and the two heroes dropped their weapons in shock only half a second before the guns exploded into small bits of shrapnel midair…before those gun pieces slowly drifted safely to the ground. The pale eyed man grinned. "Are we impressed yet?! Good. Now let's get this over with! Starting…."

Darhk waved his right index finger between Diggle and Isabel several seconds before he firmly pointed in Isabel's direction. "With you!"

Before Isabel could even think about responding to Darhk's words, the man was upon her, as Damien quickly glided, almost flew, several inches off of the ground with a preternatural speed that Isabel knew had to be supernatural in its origin. The evil sorcerer had his hand on her chest, over her heart, an act which caused Isabel's chest to feel like it was on fire…but only for a moment. Then, before Isabel could throw a single punch in Damien's direction, much less think about the story Oliver had told her, shortly after the wedding ceremony in Nanda Parbat, about the time he had helped a good sorcerer named John Constantine steal a mystical artifact from an evil one named Baron Rieter in Moscow, or the parallels between that strange situation and the one she was in, a strange power, the origin of which neither the hero or the warlock knew, took hold of both Damien and Isabel's bodies. A fraction of a second later, as if they were two repelling magnets, Damien and Isabel's bodies were flung in opposite directions by the nameless mystical force. However, the origin of the mysterious force did not treat the two individuals in the same manner, causing Isabel to merely be flung in the air several feet away from Darhk, before her body drifted harmlessly to the ground, while Damien was violently flung several yards across the parking lot before he landed with a crash on the front windshield of a parked limo.

After that, while John Diggle raced to Isabel's side to make sure his best friend's wife was okay, and all of the Ghosts in the parking lot ran to their master's aid, both the Midnight Sentinel and Damien Darhk's eyes closed involuntarily, as the two individuals found their perceptions swallowed in a void of darkness and silence. But only for a moment…

* * *

There was a flash of light behind his eyelids.

Pale eyes opened to a sky filled with falling snow, a busy street, a waiting limo, and a woman with her two daughters. The pale-eyed man's daughters and his wife. It was a dark night that Damien remembered well. The night of his organization's most recent defeat in Moscow, when Darhk and his family had left Russia, after the Russian mob and an African-American bodyguard from America had foiled his plans to start another cold war that HIVE could have profited handsomely from. With a sigh, Damien found himself entering the limo with his family, just like he remembered doing those many years ago, before the head of HIVE had turned to black magic to give him an edge against his enemies.

But this time, the night didn't end the way that Damien remembered, as the terrorist leader soon found himself caught in a wave of heat and pain as the entire limo burst into a fireball that the man was in too much pain to hear the sound of. An explosion that consumed the limo, Damien's family, and Darhk himself.

And then there was a moment of agony, and grief, and rage, and then…nothing. Only darkness again.

Then another flash of light.

Another explosion of pain, but of a less intense variety, hit Darhk as he found himself being punched repeatedly by a large man wearing a mask who was screaming unintelligibly with rage. Damien only had a brief moment to wonder why one of his own associates, a man known only as Bane, was attacking him, or why his own powers were failing to work despite putting his hands on Bane's chest several times. And then the large man put his hands around Damien's neck and twisted it at an unnatural angle that flooded Damien's senses with agony while he vaguely heard a sickening POP!

Darkness again. Then another time, another place. A familiar man pointing a gun at Damien's head. Darhk finds himself smiling at the man in front of him. "Go ahead. Do it!"

Then a loud BANG! And then nothing…

* * *

A flash of light went off behind her eyes.

Hazel eyes opened to a familiar setting. An office In Queen Consolidated with a large window overlooking the city. But the scene before her was unfamiliar to Isabel, who found herself on her knees, with a staff that looked an awful lot like the Canary's (although Isabel couldn't actually see the owner of the staff at the moment) holding her neck in place. Isabel was able to look down far enough to see that she was in her old Ravager costume somehow, and confusion came across Isabel's mind as she saw that she was surrounded by assassins, including Nyssa al Ghul…and the Arrow. And that moment, where she saw the mixture of contempt and pity for her person in her husband's eyes, broke Isabel's heart more than anything else she would see in this scene, even as the owner of those gray eyes made a half-hearted plea to his allies to spare her life.

The look of contempt in those gray eyes now, which had never looked at her with anything but love in what already felt like a lifetime to the brunette, was almost more than Isabel could take. But things quickly got worse as Isabel mentally kicked herself for the words that came out of her mouth, which the brunette didn't seem to have any control of as she looked directly at Oliver and said. "Kill me. Don't kill me. It doesn't matter. I beat you. I took away the one…"

Isabel was just starting to think that she couldn't believe that she had been the broken, vindictive person, who had always hidden her heartbreak beneath masks of indifference anger or rage, who had dreamed about saying something like that to Oliver Queen before she helped make Starling City burn for reasons that didn't even make sense to the Midnight Sentinel anymore…before the daughter of the Demon lunged in Isabel's direction and turned the brunette's head in an unnatural direction, just before the Midnight Sentinel heard a loud POP! and got a vague feeling that she should be feeling intense pain right now, but something…no, someone, was keeping that pain at bay. And then there was blackness again.

Then another bright light.

This time, Isabel awoke in sterile hospital room with futuristic looking medical equipment that Isabel couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of, while her now wrinkled hand was holding the hand of an old man who was in the hospital bed right next to hers. Before Isabel could wonder what was going on, one look at the smiling old man's face revealed the answer as the Midnight Sentinel's hazel eyes met familiar gray eyes (which rested under short white hair and a forehead with many wrinkles) that Isabel knew could only belong to one person. Her husband. Her lover. Her best friend. And her savior. Oliver Queen.

A sense of peace overtook Isabel that could not be shaken even when she looked in a nearby mirror and saw her own face, which now sported various wrinkles and thick gray hair. The Midnight Sentinel once again felt like crying, as she had in her last…vision…or whatever it was, but was once again unable to do so as she looked at the smiling face of her much older, but still handsome, husband.

For just a moment, the Midnight Sentinel allowed herself to rejoice that she had managed to avoid the bad future of her first vision, even as she despaired because she knew in her heart that the vision she was having now would never come to pass. That she would never get to grow old with Oliver Queen. Her healing factor wouldn't let her. Before the heroine could dwell on this line of thinking too much however, her thoughts were interrupted as she heard old Oliver speak in a voice that was a little bit deeper and raspier than Isabel was used to coming from the man, but was still so unmistakably Oliver. "You're still the most beautiful woman in the world, you know that?!"

The old man coughed, and Isabel's heart broke once again at the way that old Oliver looked at her, even as she rejoiced that this Oliver looked at her with love in his eyes, unlike the Arrow in her last vision. Oliver spoked again. "I love you, Isabel. Good bye."

The old man closed his eyes, and this time, Isabel's (older) eyes did feel with tears as the monitor next to old Oliver began to flat line, letting out a loud, continuous sound that had evidently not changed since the late 20th century as the brunette heard herself say words that the Midnight Sentinel knew she would always mean, no matter how long she lived. "I love you, Oliver."

And then older Isabel's eyes closed as her own monitor began to flat-line. Once again, Isabel got the feeling that she should be experiencing some kind of pain, although not nearly as much as the last vision would have entailed, but that someone was holding that pain back from the Midnight Sentinel. Then there was darkness again. And another flash of light.

But this time the light didn't stop for several minutes, as too many scenes for Isabel to count, much less register in her mind, raced past her awareness…scenes the Midnight Sentinel had the feeling stretched across eternity, as if this future would never hold any death for her. Ever. And even though Isabel couldn't keep up with all of the scenes playing in front of her, she felt some of the emotions those moments could bring her. Moments of sorrow, and pain, and love lost. But the Midnight Sentinel also felt feelings of happiness and joy, and hope ebb and flow within her being during this last, rapid vision…and even the vague feeling that sometimes love, once lost, could be found again. That even death may not be able to stop a love like the one she felt for Oliver.

Before Isabel could dwell on this last mad, hopeful thought, however, the strange light faded away into nothingness…

* * *

Both Damian and Isabel awoke to find concerned faces looking down at them after what had seemed to be several minutes, hours, or even years to the heroine and the terrorist leader, but had only been several seconds to John Diggle and the Ghosts huddled around Damien, the former of which held actual concern and fear for the welfare of his teammate, while the Ghosts were only worried about were their next paycheck would come from if their boss died, had passed. Finally, however, first Isabel, then Darhk, were able to pull themselves together enough to get to their feet, and the latter party could only stare in Isabel's direction for several seconds, even as his Ghosts attempted to ascertain whether their leader was, indeed, all right, until Damien finally loudly asked a question in a shaky voice while pointing in Isabel's direction. "What the hell are you?!"

Isabel smirked, showing a lot more confidence than she felt, an act she had grown all too good at pulling off, before she began to reply. "You aren't the first person to ask me that question, you know. I am very…"

Darhk shook his head again and spoke in a rough tone even as his pale eyes continued to be filled with fear. "Not you…."

Dark pointed downward, towards Isabel's large, pregnant belly. "You!?"

Before Isabel could puzzle out what Dark was talking about, however, or what had just happened to her and the villain, numerous assassins, which included Sarab, led by her own husband, Oliver Queen, who was evidently conscious again, and not at all shy about trying to save his wife…especially after all of the wedding guests had already fled the scene via the chapel's front entrance, came running out of the chapel's back entrance and began firing at Darhk and his men. Seeing that his men were outnumbered now and clutching his arm for some reason, the leader of HIVE made a snap decision, which he announced with a shout toward his men. "Retreat!"

Isabel let out a sigh of relief as her and John Diggle watched Darhk and his Ghosts run away from the scene of their recent crime, but Isabel couldn't help but wonder at what her recent visions might have meant, or what Dark had meant when he had looked in fear towards her unborn child and asked her what she was, as if her child would actually be able to understand what Darhk was saying to her…

* * *

Several hours later…

Starling General Hospital was caught up in a wave of chaos the likes of which it had not seen since the aftermath of the Undertaking. Over a dozen men and women injured in by Dark's ghosts were brought in, suffering from injuries which ranged from flesh wounds to severe internal bleeding and organ failure, even as hundreds of well-meaning family members, reporters, and lawyers descended on the building which had been built 10 years ago, with the help of several wealthy donors, including Robert and Moira Queen and Rebecca and Malcolm Merlyn, for the purpose of helping the sick and wounded get well. In addition, there were several assassins on the scene, including Sarab, dressed in casual clothes, who were there to watch over the building that their master and his wife were in.

Despite the influence the Queen name gave that family, an influence which had seen Moira Queen, with her three gunshot wounds, be among the first admitted into the E.R., Oliver wasn't able to get Isabel, who had no visible injuries, looked at for over an hour, despite her earlier encounter with Darhk and her own pregnancy, due to the large number of people with life-threatening injuries which had to be treated right away. And even after the doctors were able to get an ultra-sound to check on the health of Isabel's baby, they couldn't make sense of the results. So Dr. Snow had been called, and the red-head scientist immediately started driving towards Starling, since the earthquake in Central City, which Zoom had caused, had been averted already. However, it would take Dr. Snow over an hour more to arrive at Starling General.

This being the case, the Queen family was free to focus on its most injured member, Moira, at the moment, since the Queen matriarch had just gotten out of surgery (which had been touch and go for a while, but Moira had pulled through) and was now allowed to have visitors. After this happened, it didn't take long for Oliver, Thea, and even Isabel to rush towards Moira's room (Connor was left in the care of John Diggle, in the waiting room for the time being), along with Walter Steele, who had been waiting just as long as the others to hear news of Moira,. The hospital staff had immediately let Moira's children and daughter in-law inside, but they had hesitated to let Moira's ex-husband in the room, since he wasn't "family", despite Oliver and Thea's protests to the contrary, until Isabel and Moira simultaneously exclaimed in a loud voice, from their positions in a hospital bed and the hallway, respectfully. "Let him in!"

The orderly quickly obeyed out of fear.

Walter was the first to walk into the room, and the rest of the Queen family, sans Connor, stood (well, Isabel sat) in the hall for about five minutes before Moira loudly announced that she wanted to speak with her family for a moment. After nodding in understanding and placing a single kiss on Moira's lips, Walter departed the room and Oliver and Thea entered the hospital room with worried looks on their faces while Isabel stayed seated on the floor in the hallway, until Moira added with a smirk on her face. "And I meant my whole family. You're part of this family now too, Isabel. That means you need to participate."

Isabel groaned as she sat up in the hallway, but there was a smile on her face when she entered Moira's hospital room while noting the tired look on Moira's face and all of the various machines that were attached to her body to monitor her vitals. The Queen matriarch rolled her eyes at the concerned looks that her family members were giving her. "Don't look at me like that. It's not that bad. The doctors say that the bullets from those Ghosts missed anything vital, so I should be able to be up and about after a few months of bed rest. Walter has agreed to look after me during that time, but truthfully, I'm planning to be on my feet in two. We Queens didn't get as far ahead in the world as we have after all, without being stronger than most…"

Oliver shook his head. "You shouldn't have to be in a bed for three months, or two, or even one. If it weren't for my actions against HIVE, you wouldn't be in this position. And I know you have been working with Captain Lance to try to get the police force to prioritize tracking down the Ghosts as well. If I had kept you and Isabel safe, if I had never let you find out I was the Arrow, or gotten you involved with any of this."

Moira frowned and cut her son's words off. "Now is not the time for talk like that, Oliver. I am not going to let you throw one of your self-pity parties where you blame yourself for everything right now. I'm the one in the hospital bed, so if anybody here had cause to pity themselves, it would be me, and I have better things to do with my time. And I, for one, am glad that I found out all that you have been doing for this city. I could not be more proud of what you have accomplished as the Arrow, and I am honored that I have been able to help you protect this city, in some small measure, by keeping the police off your back and making your enemies the SCPD's enemies. But I choose to do that, Oliver. Just like everybody else involved in your Arrow business, Diggle, Felicity, Laurel, Sara and even Thea and Isabel here, I choose to help you. Choose to help the Arrow. I knew the risk just as well as they do. So don't you dare try to take that choice from me. I am your mother, and even though you are an adult now, Oliver, you are still my son. Which is why I will always do whatever I can to protect you, as well as the rest of my family, Isabel and my grandchild included. And I will make whatever sacrifices I need to make in order to accomplish that. A few months bed rest is a small price to pay for protecting my family."

Oliver nodded and finally spoke after several seconds. "Okay then."

Isabel also nodded with a smile on her face. "Thank you, Moira, for protecting the child Oliver and I are going to have together. Considering what could have happened to you…that means a lot."

Moira looked at Isabel for a long second, then turned to Oliver and Thea. "Could you two please give me and my daughter in-law a few moments alone?"

The adult Queen siblings looked puzzled, but did as they were asked, and as they were walking out the door of the hospital room, The Queen matriarch added. "Oh, and give my regards to Captain Lance…or Police Chief Lance, as I make sure he becomes within 24 hours. Let him know that he will have a new superior to answer to soon as well. Oliver, I will be making you the interim mayor of Starling City until I am fit to carry out my duties again. Isabel should be able to run Queen Consolidated in your absence for a while, and after my daughter in-law has her baby, well…Walter has agreed to take a short leave of absence from Starling National bank to help run the company this family built."

Seeing that Oliver was about to open his mouth to protest, Moira quickly added. "And I am not telling you that as your mother, Oliver. That is an order from your mayor. Understood?"

Oliver smirked and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

After the Queen siblings left, Isabel turned to Moira with an astonished look on her face. "Thank you. That is...an honor, Moira. I am glad that, despite our past differences, you trust me enough to run things at QC in Oliver's absence. To be honest, I don't think I will be able to do it on my own, given my condition, but I'm sure Felicity would be happy to help me out, and then Walter could take over for a while after I have your granddaughter, as you said…"

Moira smiled and interrupted Isabel. "I didn't want you to stay so we could talk about business. Are you telling me you and Oliver are having a girl? I'm going to have a granddaughter!"

Isabel smiled. "Yes. Oliver and I weren't going to tell anyone our baby's gender until she was born, but we decided that you deserved to know, considering what you have done to protect your granddaughter."

Moira frowned and replied. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I need you to understand something. I wasn't just trying to protect my granddaughter in that chapel, Isabel. I was trying to protect you as well."

Isabel nodded. "Because you thought you owed me for saving your li…"

Moira shook her head. "No. Because you are part of my family now, Isabel. And family looks out for each other. I guess I can't blame you for not knowing that, considering your tumultuous childhood, but that is how family is supposed to work. That is how the Queen family works."

The brunette frowned. "Oh. But I don't understand. I thought you didn't like me. I mean, all this business about you wanting to run the wedding between Oliver and me…I thought you still didn't approve of my union with your son. That you were ashamed to have me be a part of your family because of my history with…"

The older blond woman raised her hand in the air. "Please don't finish that sentence. If you and I never speak about that particular subject again, it will be too soon!"

The Queen matriarch sighed. "But I meant what I said to you that night on the Queen mansion's doorstep, Isabel. I already forgave you for that. It took me a long time, and me seeing the numerous ways you were bending over backwards to try to help my family, and make Oliver and Connor's lives happier, but I did forgive you for what you did years ago when you were young and foolish. We don't need to talk about that again."

Isabel shook her head in confusion. "Then why have you been giving me such a hard ti…You know what, I'm sorry. You're injured…because of me. I should just be grateful and keep my mouth shut."

Moira smirked. "Now that's not the position of strength a Queen woman should take in a conversation, is it? To answer your question though…I have been hard on you. Part of that is just because my son choose to marry you, and I'm just doing what any mother in-law would do by being overbearing. But there's a little more to it than that…"

Moira looked straight into Isabel's eyes. "I think…it's just been hard on me. Seeing the way you take care of my son. Knowing that Oliver doesn't need me to take care of him anymore. That my son doesn't need me anymore…"

Isabel shook her head. "That's not true. You are Oliver's mother. He will always need you!"

Moira smiled sadly. "No, he doesn't. My son will always love me, I understand that now. And I am grateful for it, but…he doesn't need me to watch out for him anymore like he used to before the Gambit. Or even before he met you. But now…now I've been relegated to the sidelines of my son's life. I can only help him from afar by manipulating the bureaucracy that is Starling City's government. You, on the other hand, can stand by his side, fight with him in the trenches. Whether every storm with him. And I can tell that Thea and Roy will be the same way. I expect wedding bells in their future any time now. It's a good thing, really. I mean, I don't want my children to depend on me their entire lives. I know they are going to outlive me, after all, it's just…"

Moira's eyes were still sad as she looked at Isabel's facial expression. "It's difficult for a mother to realize that her children don't need her anymore. You'll understand that one day all too soon. And I suppose I have been taking some of these emotions out on you and Oliver by trying to control this wedding…which turned out to a disaster anyway. And I wanted to apologize for that, and offer some sort of compensation for the trouble I have put you and my son through over this wedding. First of all, if you want to, you and Oliver could have another wedding, since this one was interrupted by gunfire before you and Oliver could legally become husband and wife, and the priest who was performing the ceremony is still in critical condition. But I will let you and my son make all the decisions about the next ceremony. When it will be held, before or after your baby is born. How big or small you want it to be, the location. Everything. Whatever you and Oliver want. I will foot the bill myself."

Isabel was stunned. "Wow. Thank you. I will have to talk to Oliver about it, but…thank you! That is a wonderful wedding present, Moira! I actually already have a location in mind actually. A nice little Eastern Orthodox Church my foster parents used to take me to before they…passed."

Moira shook her head. "Whatever you want. But that wasn't my wedding present to you two. That was an apology for being an extremely overbearing mother in-law. I was going to wait to give you and Oliver your wedding present for after your honeymoon, but, pardon me for saying so, Isabel, but as far along as you are with your accelerated pregnancy, it looks like that could be awhile…."

Isabel looked at her massive (in her opinion) belly and sighed. "Point taken."

Moira actually reached over from her bed and squeezed Isabel's right hand. "I didn't mean that as an insult, only that it will probably be a while before it would be safe for you and Oliver to…anyway, I'm sure you will be back to your old self soon. And trust me, when you see your daughter for the first time…all of these pregnancy pains will be worth it."

The Queen matriarch let go of Isabel's hand. "Back to what I was trying to say. In light of recent circumstances, I have just decided to give you your wedding present now. I am giving you and Oliver the mansion, Isabel. We can draw up the paperwork later, but the basic point is, I'm living with Walter now, and with a growing family, You, Oliver, Connor, and my granddaughter will need space more than me. All that I ask is that you and Oliver always set aside a room in the mansion so that Thea will always be able to come back to her old home if she ever feels the need to."

Isabel's eyes widened in shock. "Are you sure?! I mean…yes, of course! We'll take it! And I'll talk to Oliver about it, but…I'll see if we can set aside two rooms for the mansion. One for Thea, and one for you. I wouldn't feel right taking the mansion from you otherwise."

Moira smirked. "So that your overbearing mother in-law can drop in whenever she pleases? Are you sure that is wise, Isabel?"

Isabel smirked right back. "I think I can handle it. Besides, like you said. Family looks out for each other, don't they?"

"Grandma!" Connor ran into the room and immediately started hugging his grandmother, who smiled for a couple of seconds until her grandson squeezed a little too hard and Moira spoke. "Okay, Connor! That's enough! You can stop hugging me now!"

Oliver and Diggle rushed into the room next and the former spoke. "I'm sorry, mom! Once I told him that you were okay and what room you were, Connor wanted to see you right away! He ran here faster than we could catch him!"

Moira just smiled as Connor pulled away from her sheepishly. "That's alright! I'm happy you wanted to see your grandma, Connor!"

Connor nodded. "Sorry I hurt you! I'm just…I'm glad those bad men didn't kill you…like one killed my mom."

The mood in the room grew somber then, and the Queen matriarch was about to say something when Isabel suddenly doubled over in pain and clutched her stomach. "AHHHHHHHHH! Oliver! Something's wrong! I think something's wrong with our baby!"

* * *

….one hour later…

The last hour had flown by like a wild tornado for Oliver Queen, as a nurse quickly rushed into Moira's room with a stretcher and used it to whisk Isabel away to the maternity ward of the hospital…which was, thankfully, one of the few sections of the hospital that was not crowded today. Unfortunately, neither Oliver, nor any member of his family, was allowed admittance into the room. A few minutes later, the announcement that Oliver had been dreading came from a nurse that came out of Isabel's room. Isabel was going into labor prematurely. Which would explain why she was screaming every few minutes.

About five minutes after that, Dr. Snow arrived from Central City and was informed of the bad news. Fifteen minutes after the announcement, after Dr. Snow had managed to borrow the most recent ultra-sounds and other tests done to determine the health of Oliver and Isabel's daughter, the doctor explained to the entire family, as well as the rest of team arrow, which had arrived almost an hour ago, what was happening. "Something very…odd is happening to your and Isabel's daughter, Oliver! She is having way more brainwave activity in her frontal lobe than she should at this point in her development, and her brain as a whole is far more developed than it should be! And contrary to what the doctor's in that room have been saying, your baby's movements in Isabel's womb are not erratic!"

Oliver had no patience for the doctor's technobabble. "Not all of us have PhD's, Dr. Snow. I want to know what is happening to my daughter, in layman's terms, and I want to know right now!"

Dr. Snow actually flinched away from Oliver due to his yelling, which the Arrow knew he would probably feel guilty about later, but right now, he was too anxious to care, other than being satisfied that his words got results, as Dr. Snow managed to stammer out. "Sorry. Of course. Um, I guess the easiest way to say it is that I think something majorly traumatic, something beyond any scientific phenomenon that I've ever seen, happened, and…your child is fully conscious in the womb, and is already showing signs of adult-level intelligence and perceptual skills. And what's more, I think she feels trapped in the womb, because she is trying to claw herself out! And don't ask me to explain how that's possible, because it shouldn't be!"

Oliver had said only word to that. "Darhk." The Arrow knew that his wife's strange encounter with the dark magician, which Isabel had told him about, must have something to do with this, although he couldn't figure out how. In truth, Oliver knew he was out of his depth here with this mystical stuff. And if that was the case for him, then the doctors in the maternity ward wouldn't have a clue what was going on with his and Isabel's already fully sentient child. But Oliver did know of one person who may be able to help him now. The Arrow turned to his family and friends. "Excuse me. I think I have a call to make. Someone who may actually be able to help Isabel and my daughter. I'll be right back!"

Oliver then walked away to call a strange man whose help he hoped he would never have to ask for, a British, trench coat wearing modern day magician. In all honesty, ever since the vigilante's first encounter, years ago, with the blonde-haired man, John Constantine had freaked Oliver out with his magic, obsession with the occult, and general weirdness. That being said, Oliver had managed to save the man's life, and Constantine himself had admitted that he owed Oliver a favor and gave the billionaire his number so that Oliver could cash in on that favor when he needed. And Oliver had tried to do just that months ago by attempting to secure Constantine's help against Darhk, but Constantine had refused, saying something to the effect of Darhk being too powerful for him to overcome.

But this time, Oliver wasn't going to take no for answer. One way or another, the emerald archer was going to make the laughing magician help him and his family…if Constantine wanted to go on living, anyway.

To the British man's credit, however, Constantine did not try to refuse to help Oliver this time when he finally picked up the phone about half an hour later, while Oliver kept hanging up on a person who kept trying to call him from a number Oliver didn't recognize. Once Oliver had appraised Constantine of the situation, the magician had sighed and said. "Well, it seems like your child, or Isabel, or both, may have accidentally tapped into some next level mystical shit that even Damien couldn't handle. And a feat like that is both very impressive and very dangerous and full of unexpected consequences, especially for a child developing in the womb. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Tell you what, the Astral Plane went a little tits up for a little while after a magic war me and some other chaps had here in London, but the um…debris, I guess you could call it, if you could call soul-sucking demons debris, is almost cleaned up. Tell me the address of Starling General Hospital, and I should be able to teleport there in a few minutes and see what help, if any, I can provide your wife and child."

Then the magician hung up the phone and Oliver cursed under his breath as he walked back to his friends and family, who were still waiting outside of the maternity ward, and started pacing from one end of the hall to the other, hoping that the weirdest friend he had ever made would get here as quickly as possible…and that the trench coat wearing man would be able to help his wife and child.

And that was the situation that Oliver was in when John Diggle picked up his ringing cell phone with a friend and spoke into it. "Look, I don't know who you are, but this is really not a good time…"

Diggle's face went a little pale and he tried to hand the phone to Oliver wordlessly, while the Arrow tried to bat it away. "If that isn't John Constantine, I don't want to talk to them, Diggle!"

Diggle pressed the phone forcefully into Oliver hand while whispering in his friend's ear. "It's not John Constantine, whoever that is. But the person one the other end of that line told me that he's Batman, and that he knows that I'm Spartan and that you are the Arrow, and that he needs to talk with your right now. He also said you shouldn't ignore his calls. But man, I hope he's lying about being Batman."

Oliver looked at Diggle as he put the phone to his ear. "And why is that Diggle?"

The African-American man shook his head. "Because the man on that line sounds terrified. And I shudder to think, if he's telling the truth about who he is, what could make the Batman afraid."

And sure enough, when Oliver put the phone to his ear, a familiar deep voice greeted him, but there was a stutter to it that the Arrow wasn't used to hearing from Bruce Wayne's alter ego. "You really need to pick up your phone when someone calls you, Arrow! Especially if they do so repeatedly!"

Oliver walked away from the group and started talking in a whisper. "Stop yelling! You shouldn't have called me at this number, or my regular cell for that matter, in the first place if we were going to discuss vigilante business!"

"I don't have time for caution, Arrow! Some maniac, and I have suspicions it was Darhk, broke all the inmates out of Arkham, and they…they are wreaking so much havoc! One of them even claimed he had his henchmen put bombs in every hospital and orphanage in Gotham City and they are going to all go off in an hour! But I've only found one so far! I'm working with GCPD right now to find and disarm the rest, but I don't think we will have enough time to do it without help…"

Oliver sighed. "I'm sorry. I can't help you with that. I'm too far away from you. But I do know someone who might be able to help…"

Batman growled. "I already called the Flash. Mr. Allen is already on his way to Gotham, but that's not why I called you. I need help with something else…something a little more personal…"

Oliver could hear the fear underneath the anger in Bruce Wayne's voice all too easily now as Batman's voice actually shook a little. "Damian Darhk…he took Cat…Selina Kyle! I don't know why, but he sent me a message. He told me that Miss Kyle is in Starling City. Gave me an exact location. Knowing I was too busy protecting Gotham! Knowing I couldn't get there in time! And…he's going to kill her in exactly 115 minutes time! I'm going to text the location to the phone you're on now, but please…She's in your city, your backyard! I…I need you to save her, do you got that, Arrow?! It may be a trap, but all the same I…You need to save her!"

Oliver's eyes widened as Batman hung up, then texted him the exact location Selina Kyle, the woman that Oliver was pretty certain that Bruce Wayne had feelings for since he was twelve, was. As The Arrow debated what he should do, wait for John Constantine, to see if he could help the wizard save his wife and child, or suit up as the Arrow to recuse Catwoman, the anti-hero long time love interest of his fellow hero and ally, when John Constantine suddenly appeared right in front of the emerald archer carrying an iron pot containing the most loathsome aroma that the hero had ever smelled.

John Constantine turned towards Oliver Queen. "Sorry I took so long to get here. Had to gather up the ingredients for a potion I will need to use to, well…operate in that operating room undisturbed. Did I miss anything important since we last spoke?!"

 **AN: So many things to say here. First of all, I would like to thank all of my readers for their support and reviews, especially those who reviewed my last chapter. Pootamis, Phillipe363nzOptimist, kindleflame5, highlander 348, and a guest! Your support and input have been greatly appreciated!**

 **First off, I hoped you all liked the fight scenes in this chapter, and the encounter between Damien and Isabel that I will not explain here…but I think you will probably be able to understand it anyway.**

 **As far as the interactions between Isabel and Moira in this chapter. Part of me thinks they may have been a little OOC, but another part of me thinks that both characters have grown in leaps and bounds from the people they were in the source material so…I will let you, my readers, decide. I also hope you enjoyed my version of John Constantine, who is sort of an amalgamation of what little I know about the comic book character, the cheesy Keanu Reeves movies, and his appearances on Arrow. But as always, please let me know what you honestly think about this, and the other elements of this chapter that you may wish to comment on!**

 **And of course, a special thanks goes out to my beta-reader, without whom this story would be uglier than the aftermath of a time war, magic war, and Star War (yes, I went there, please don't sue me, disembodied head of Walt Disney!) all rolled into one! I couldn't do this without your help!**

 **Until next time, I am…**

 **-supercode**


	5. Fair Maidens Must Be Rescued

Oliver just nodded and sighed at John Constantine's words after the wizard asked if he had missed anything important. "Yes. But you don't need to worry about that right now. All you need to worry about is saving my wife and child, and doing it quickly!"

The Arrow frowned and added. "And while you are doing that. I need to run a…important errand. Believe me, I wouldn't leave my wife alone while she is giving birth if it wasn't something really important…"

Constantine raised his right eyebrow as he spoke. "More important than saving your wife and child? Because I might need your help to do that, Oliver. I need you to come with me into that operating room!"

Oliver nodded while mentally apologizing to Bruce Wayne for not immediately running off to save Catwoman, but acknowledged to himself that this was more important as he spoke to the wizard. "Fine. You're right, saving Isabel and our daughter is the most important thing for me to do right now. I just hope we can finish this quickly before…"

John Constantine set the pot with the horrible smelling liquid inside of it on the ground, ignoring the glares and stares some of the other patients at the hospital were giving him, before waving his left arm in a dismissive manner even as he pulled a large silver ladle out of his trench coat and said. "Don't worry. Time will not be a limiting factor for us in this endeavor. Now…"

The wizard kneeled down and quickly raised a small bit of the liquid in the pot toward his mouth and slurped it down in one gulp. John's face then immediately turned a sickening shade of green as the man visibly fought to keep himself from throwing up. But the moment quickly passed, and the man in the trench coat went right back to a false state of cheerfulness before he smiled and pinched Oliver's nose shut, causing the Arrow to open his mouth as a reflex, allowing the magician to force another ladle full of the awful smelling liquid down the vigilante's throat.

Oliver's taste buds were violated as he experienced a taste that resembled a mixture between vomit, sewer water, and something that had been dead for a very long time, and the man's gagging reflex activated, causing the Arrow's mouth to open involuntarily…before Constantine forced the hero's mouth shut with his right hand and spoke in a serious tone to the Arrow. "I know it's hard, but whatever you do, DO NOT throw up! I only have enough of that vile tasting stuff for the two of us to get one shot at this, so if you value the lives of you wife and daughter, keep that potion down!"

Oliver nodded and gulped, forcing the liquid down. The action made Oliver feel sick for several seconds, but the feeling quickly passed, and when the Arrow was finally able to look up towards his strange friend, he noticed two things. One John Constantine was smirking in that way that he only smirked when he had just done something he thought was amazingly clever. And two, none of the other people in the hallway, who had been running or wheeling themselves from one room to another a few moments ago, were moving at all. In fact, all of the formerly busy people seemed to be frozen in place, in a variety of awkward. Some of the individuals around the Arrow and the magician were yelling soundlessly, several were stuck in a running pose, going nowhere, and Oliver even noticed that one man even seemed to be in an eternal state of trying to pick his nose.

Finally, Oliver took the bait and turned to the still smirking sorcerer. "Okay. I'll bite. What just happened?! How did you make everyone freeze like this?!"

Constantine continued to smirk as he said. "You still haven't figured it out then? Fine. I'll just tell you. These people aren't frozen. The potion didn't do anything to them at all."

The Arrow raised one of his eyebrows. "What happened then? If everybody looks frozen in place…You must have sped us up, right? So…"

Oliver looked around at all of the seemingly still people around him. "This what the world must look like to the Flash all of the time. Wow, that's…really boring, actually. No wonder he seems impulsive sometimes. It must be all that Barry can do to slow down and interact with the rest of the world."

Constantine shook his head and replied. "Are you referring to the man who lives in Central City, wears red and runs really, freakishly fast? No. We aren't going faster Oliver. Not really. And the world isn't actually slowed down."

The magician frowned. "The best way that I can explain what is happening right now is that we are in a separate dimension where our timeline is moving at a different speed than everyone else's."

When the trench coat wearing man noticed that Oliver was still looking at him with a confused expression on his face, he elaborated. "The people around us are moving in a different relative time stream than we are. Or at least, that's how it was explained to me once. Cause time's not linear, and…"

Seeing that Oliver still looked confused, the wizard threw his hands up the air. "You know what, I give up. You don't need to understand how it works. Hell, I barely understand how I was able to get us in this state, and I made the potion myself. I'm a sorcerer, not a physicist! The basic point is, we're living in a temporal fast lane, alright?!"

Oliver just nodded. "Oh. Why didn't you just say that? I mean, wasn't that easier to say?"

The sorcerer shrugged. "Not really." But only a second later, the man's shoulders slumped. "Okay. Maybe a little bit."

A serious look reappeared on Oliver's face. "What does any of this have to do with saving Isabel or my daughter?"

Constantine glared at Oliver. "I was getting to that. You Americans can be really rude sometimes, you know that? Even when you have pretty much all the time in the world, you still get impatient. Anyway, we need to get into the operating room where your wife is about to give birth to your child in order to save both of them. But some of the rituals we may, and probably will, need to perform in order to do that will take time. Time we wouldn't have had in our home dimension, even if the doctors and orderlies in that room, who have no idea what they are doing when it comes to the mystical world, would let us in there and let me work in peace. Which they probably wouldn't. So let's get to it then, shall we?"

Without another word, the sorcerer began his track to the ER, all while making all kinds of wry comments and dry humored jokes at the expense of the people that were frozen around them, while Oliver followed the man in the trench coat, and for the most part, tuned the wizard's words out. Or at least he did, until Constantine stopped abruptly and turned towards Connor, who was waiting outside of the maternity ward with the rest of his family, waiting to see if his stepmom and little sister would be alright. The wizard then turned to Oliver and inquired. "Do you know this little boy?"

Oliver nodded. "Yes. He's my son. His name is Connor. Why?"

The magician smiled. "Oh? Well, that makes a whole lot of sense. That would explain the complicated destiny that his aura seems to indicate."

Constantine then attempted to continue walking into the operating room, but Oliver put his hand on the magician's left shoulder, forcing the wizard to stop moving as the Arrow spoke. "No. You can't just make a comment like that about my son and expect me to let it go. What does…whatever you said, mean? What is going to happen to my son? You said we have all the time we need, so you are going to use some of that to explain your words to me."

The magician sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I don't know, okay? I don't know what's going to happen to him, and I don't know what's going to happen to you. Both you and your son have uncertain futures. Either one of you could die tomorrow, or maybe, and this is really unlikely, you understand…but either of you could, potentially, become immortal and live forever. Don't ask me how either of those things could happen, because I have no idea. I'm just telling you what I can see. Just…watch Connor carefully, okay? And look after yourself."

Oliver just huffed at that, but allowed the magician to enter the operating room before he did the same. For the next five minutes or so (in Oliver and Constantine's point of view) the Arrow just watched and halfway listened to the magician speak as the sorcerer set up a bunch of candles and other trinkets (Oliver even saw John put what looked like a very large dreamcatcher, made entirely of silver, right next to the bed Isabel was lying on after the magician and archer discretely moved the "frozen" doctors and nurses out of the way). Constantine went on and on about the importance of getting the ritual just right, making sure there was no outside interference from other mystical forces, etc., but Oliver didn't really start paying attention until the magician said. "Oh, and just be careful to stay close to me in this dimension. There is a slight chance that things could go wrong and you could end up stuck here in slow-mo land forever."

Oliver raised his right eyebrow. "What kind of odds are we talking about here? 1%?"

Constantine shook his head. "No. More like 5%. Or maybe 10. 25%, tops."

The emerald archer shook his head and sighed at the so-called "laughing magician." "That's very reassuring."

Constantine continued what he was doing while he shrugged and said. "Hey, I never said this operation would be without risks. I just said I might be able to help you save your wife and daughter, and I thought that the risks would be worth it to you."

Oliver just nodded at that. It wasn't like the magician was wrong. He was willing to brave far worse fates than being trapped in limbo to save Isabel and their as-yet unnamed daughter. In fact, Oliver had done so on Nanda Parbat not too long ago. But that didn't mean that the emerald archer wouldn't have liked to have known about some of the risks he would have to undertake in order to save his loved ones with this ritual ahead of time.

The Arrow's thoughts were steered back to the present, however, when Constantine resumed speaking. "So, from what I've been able to gather, the basic problem is that your child became conscious, in the womb, far too early, and your daughter possess an ability that neither she, nor I, quite understand, and she is now 'freaking out', for lack of a better term, and endangering herself by trying to get out of Isabel's womb in a way that is inefficient, painful for both herself and Isabel, and likely to get herself killed. Now, in most circumstances, a standard calming spell would work wonders here, but given that your child seems to be resistant to some forms of magic, as her and Isabel's encounter with Damien proved, and that I don't know just what kind of effect a calming spell might have for a baby still in the womb…I'm going to try something else. I need to establish a mental link with your child to help her calm down and stop trying to claw her way out of Isabel's womb…"

Oliver nodded. "Like a Vulcan mind-meld?"

Constantine actually stopped talking at that, and looked at Oliver like he had just grown a second head. "Seriously? I never took you for a Trekkie."

The emerald archer smirked, although there was little joy in gesture as he continued to look at his wife, who still appeared frozen in time. "I'm not, really. But I hang out with Felicity Smoak and the people from STAR Labs quite a bit, and I've picked up a few things here and there."

The wizard chuckled, then shrugged again. "Whatever. Yes, like a Vulcan mind-meld. But with a spell. One that requires…."Constantine got out a handkerchief and wiped some of Isabel's blood, which had been coming out of her insides since her and Oliver's child had grown restless, off of the floor, gathering the red fluid using a small knife which he then used to cut himself , then, after a little hesitation on Oliver's part, did the same to the emerald archer, before he mixed the blood of all three individuals into a small bowl that he pulled out of his seemingly bottomless trench coat. Before the wizard could say a word, Oliver pointed to the magician's blade and said. "That doesn't seem like it was a very sanitary thing to do."

Constantine frowned. "No. It wasn't really. Couldn't be helped though. Magic is often messy. I needed blood from both of your child's parent's to mix with my own in order to form a physic bridge with your daughter's young mind, and the instrument I used to collect the blood needed to have the blood of all three of us on it in order for the spell to work. Sorry."

Oliver sighed. "Fine. Do whatever you have to in order to save my wife and daughter."

The magician just nodded, then began chanting words from a variety of different languages, including English, Chinese, and something that Oliver couldn't recognize but it sounded like Latin, causing the blood in the bowl to boil until it completely evaporated. Then, with a glazed look in his eyes, the magician stepped forward, gently put his hand on Isabel's belly…and was promptly thrown across the room for his efforts.

"Ow." After the magician picked himself up of the ground and walked away from the wall he had been thrown into with a loud SMACK!, he turned towards Oliver, eyes no longer glazed over, and sighed while popping some of the muscles in his back. "I was afraid of this. Your daughter seems to be resistant to my magic as well. Whatever power she possesses, there is no way for me to get through it. Unless."

The magician looked right at Oliver. "I need your hand, Oliver."

The Arrow looked down at his two hands. "Are you sure? I'm rather attached to both of them. Literally. And…"

The man in the trench coat waived his right arm at the emerald archer. "Don't worry. That's not what I meant. I just need you to touch Isabel's stomach. At worst, you'll get thrown across the room like I was. At best, you'll be helping me help your daughter."

The Arrow just nodded, then wordlessly walked across the room and touched Isabel's enlarged belly, while trying hard to ignore the blood that had spilled out of Isabel's lower body. At first, nothing happened, and the wizard next to Oliver smiled and spoke. "Good. Your daughter recognized her daddy. Now we just need to…"

But then Oliver's eyes glazed over for several seconds, and by the time his mind had snapped back to the present, his friend was shaking his right shoulder. "Are you alright, Oliver? Can you hear me?"

The Arrow nodded. "Yeah. I can hear you. I just…zoned out for a second. What do we need to do now?"

The magician raised an eyebrow at the shaky tone in Oliver's voice, but decided to take the vigilante's words at face value and replied. "Right. Just keep your hand on your wife's stomach, and I think I'll be able to…" The "Laughing Magician" put his hand on Isabel's stomach again, then waited for several seconds. But this time, nothing happened, and Constantine smiled as he spoke. "I knew it! As long as you are touching your wife at the same time as I am, your daughter seems to recognize that I'm her daddy's friend, and there is no need for her to defend herself against me. So now your daughter will let me make a psychic connection with her so I can tell her to…"

Oliver coughed and said. "That's nice, but can we make this quick? I really don't like that you are touching my wife, or you being inside my unborn daughter's head, so…"

The wizard gulped and looked down. "Right. Sorry. It's just…your daughter has a big, complicated destiny ahead of her, and It's going to be very exciting stuff. If she lives through this, anyway. Seeing a bit of it got me distracted for a moment. Sorry. Anyway, back to business…"

The wizard closed his eyes and concentrated for several seconds, then opened them before taking his hand off Isabel's stomach. "Okay, good news, bad news. Which one do you want first?"

Oliver just glared at the magician, who frowned in turn. "Right, sorry for trying to inject a little levity into a serious situation. Anyway, I was able to explain the situation to your daughter, in general terms, telepathically, and she had agreed to stop trying to escape Isabel's womb. Unfortunately, your daughter has already sustained some damage, both physical and psychological, from thrashing around while trying to get out into the world, ad from being awakened into consciousness so early by Damien Darhk's attack. Normally, I could solve both of those problems with a basic mid-level healing spell, but…"

Constantine shook his head. "Your daughter, and to a lesser degree, Isabel, are entities the likes of which I've never seen before. I'm guessing that whole incident with the Lazarus Pit which you mentioned before had something to do with that. They're meta-human and mystical. An amalgamation of science and magic. As such, the effects of magic on them seems to be…unpredictable. In order to make sure this works, to make sure your daughter survives, and she **must** survive, Oliver, if anything I've seen about her destiny is true, I'm going to need to use magic that is a lot stronger. And there will be a cost. Either Isabel's powers, or three years of your life. One or the other will be need to be sacrificed to save your daughter. I'm leaving that decision up to you. Either way, your daughter will live and Isabel will give birth to her today."

Oliver's forehead knotted itself in concentration as the man thought about his options. On the one hand, the Arrow knew that he was more than willing to lay down three years of life to save his daughter. On the other hand, Isabel had often told her husband that she wished she could make her powers go away so that she could grow old with him, and this would be a chance to make that happen...

With that in mind, the Arrow was about to open his mouth to tell Constantine that he could sacrifice Isabel's powers for his healing spell…until the vigilante once again caught a glimpse of the blood which was still, ever so slowly, dripping from the operating table. Isabel's blood. The hero then took a deep breath and, his eyes still not leaving Isabel, asked a question. "And If I choose to sacrifice Isabel's power for the chance for us to grow old together… will her odds of surviving childbirth go down?"

The wizard sighed. "Oh yes. Her odds of surviving this pregnancy will definitely be lessened without her healing factor. Even if I let some of the energy for the healing spell spill over onto Isabel, her odds of dying in childbirth could be as high as 25%."

The Arrow glared at the magician. "And you weren't going to tell me that before letting me make this decision? You can be a real bastard sometimes, you know that!?"

The wizard just shrugged, before Oliver took several deep breaths to calm down and said. "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. You're helping me to save my daughter and here I am cursing you out…"

Constantine smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's not like you're wrong. I can be a real jerk sometimes about things like this. I try not to get too emotionally attached to people, to care about the outcomes of big spells like this. It makes it easier for me if something goes wrong, which it often does. But it also means I come across as a heartless bastard sometimes. Sorry."

Oliver shook his head. "It's okay. Anyway, I've made my choice. Not that there is really one to make here. I'll give up three years of my life to make sure that both my daughter and my wife live."

Constantine looked at Oliver for a long moment then shook his head. "No you won't. I'm not going to let you. You see, I lied. The spell doesn't require three years of your life, specifically. Just three years of any human life, willingly given. And you….you're more important than I am."

Oliver quickly got the gist of what Constantine was saying. "No, John. I couldn't ask you to do that. To lay down three years of your life to save my wife and daughter. You've already helped me more than enough to satisfy whatever debt you owed me for Moscow. Let me do it. Besides, how can I be more important than you if my destiny is uncertain?"

Constantine just stared down Oliver. "I'm not talking about your importance in terms of destiny, Oliver. You're a husband. And a father. Two things I will probably never be, with the life I lead. You have more people that care if you live or die. That need you in their lives. And I won't let you sacrifice any of your lifespan, or rob the people that love of you of even a moment they could spend with you. No, I'm going to do something that I rarely ever do. Take the high road for once. Besides, I've run a pretty nice con, if I do say so myself, between three demons that will insure that I won't go to hell when I die. So at least I won't have to worry about what happens to me if I die three short years sooner than I would have…"

Before Oliver could ask Constantine what he was talking about, the man rolled up his left sleeve, exposing an elaborate tattoo that he then squeezed with his right hand. Then, after several seconds of Constantine's eyes glowing, and some of the light they gave of drifting towards Isabel and bathing her in light for a short time, the wizard shoulders slumped and he nearly feel to the floor, exhausted, before Oliver caught the magician on the way down. After several seconds, however, Constantine righted himself, just as Oliver noticed that the people around him actually seemed to be moving now, albeit very slowly. The wizard shook his head. "Potion's wearing off. Probably a side effect of that big healing spell I just cast. You need to leave now, if you don't want to be arrested by hospital security. I seem to remember you saying something about having an errand to run, after all. As for me, I'm going home to catch some shut eye. I'll be popping in at the Queen mansion from time to time though to check on your daughter and make sure her abilities develop like they are supposed to. She has a really big destiny, both her and her mother now. Need to make sure it stays on track. Besides, putting up with my presence is the least you could do right? After I gave up three years of my life to save you and daughter."

By the time Oliver could even think to reply, the magician, as well as all the objects placed around the room for the previous rituals, disappeared with a cheeky grin on Constantine's his face, even as time seemed to speed up back to its normal speed around the hero, and the vigilante noted from a nearby clock that almost five minutes had passed in real-time while he and Constantine had been saving his wife and daughter. All at once the operating room came alive, as a nurse noticed Oliver's presence in the room and yelled at him. "Mr. Queen?! I don't know how you got in, but you can't be in here!"

The Arrow was about to allow himself to be escorted out of the room by a doctor before another voice stopped him. "Oliver? Is that you?! I'm feeling better now! It still hurts, but… I think our baby is going to be okay!"

Oliver pushed past all of the doctors and nurses in his way and ran to Isabel's side, even as said doctors noted with astonishment that the conditions of both Isabel and her baby were stabilizing, and that Isabel was now going through her first set of regular contractions. The man then held on to his wife's hand for several seconds. "Isabel! I'm here! I called in a favor and…you and our baby are both going to be okay, I promise! And I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! But I have to go now. One of the loved ones of a mutual friend of ours is in trouble, and I need to save her, okay?! I'll try to be back before our baby is finished being born, but I will come back, okay! I love you!"

Isabel nodded in understanding and smirked even while she spoke between gasps as she grunted in pain. "Fine….Do what you have to….do! But you will owe me…big for this! Like…breakfast in bed….for the next six months big…you got that!?"

Oliver smiled. "Yes ma'am." As far as the Arrow was concerned, he would be willing to get Isabel breakfast in bed for the rest of his life. If that was all the price he had to pay for keeping Isabel alive and in his life after today, Oliver knew he would be getting of light. But before the orderlies pushing him out of the room could made things end on that note, Isabel called out to Oliver. "And Oliver! Stay safe! I love you…too!"

* * *

After Oliver was practically thrown out of the operating room, he was met by the stunned glances of all of the friends and family members, as well as his head bodyguard, Sarab, in the hallway. Connor was the first one that was able to articulate what everyone else was thinking, however. "Wait a second, dad! You were just out here a few seconds ago with that strange man with the coat, then you disappeared and….how did you end up in there! And are my mommy and my sister going to be okay?!"

Oliver smiled at the awkward delivery of his son's questions even as the boy rubbed his thumb and forefinger together nervously, a gesture which the Arrow found all too familiar. The vigilante then answered his son's, and everyone else's questions. "What just happened was a long story that I will tell all of you later. But Isabel and the baby are going to be okay. Isabel's going into labor, already, but they're both going to be okay!"

Everyone in the hallway, minus Sarab, who just let himself give a half-smile, sighed in relief, then Moira added. "Oliver, if your wife is about to give birth, you should be in that room with her! Now, we are going to get you in there so you can watch your child be born even if we need to break that door down and…"

Oliver sighed and spoke quietly. "I wish I could, but there is a situation that my team and I need to see to right now." Oliver turned to Diggle, who just nodded, then to the rest of his remaining teammates. "I will tell you about it on the way. For now, I need you all to follow me to our base, where I will grab something and we can all gear up."

Thea nodded. "Okay. If you say it's that important. Whatever it is, we're with you Ollie."

Laurel nodded. "Count me in too. It's past time that Cobalt went out into the field."

Roy smirked. "You know I'm in. I'm always ready for a fight."

Diggle just nodded again.

Oliver smiled. "Okay then. Let's get this done and see if I can be back here on time to watch my wife give birth."

Sarab stepped forward. "My lord. I don't want to overstep my bounds, and I know you like to take your team out against non-HIVE related threats sometimes, or when you don't want someone killed, without your assassins. But it whatever threat you are going after is big enough, maybe you could use the League's assistance…"

Oliver shook his head. "I'm sorry, my friend. But Darhk told Isabel, who told me, that he had a traitor in our organization. Right now, you and Isabel are the only assassins I trust. So I need you to do something for me. Can you please lead all of the assassins in the area to the North wing of the hospital while my team exits out the South wing? After that, double back here and protect my family. I just I don't want the traitor to inform Darhk that we are about to go after him now."

Sarab looked uncertain, but he bowed all the same then said. "Thank you for putting your faith in me, Ra's al Ghul. Your words shall be accomplished. I wish you and your team success and safety in your endeavors against HIVE."

And with that, Oliver and team Arrow left the hospital going one direction, while Sarab started walking the other way and rounding up other members of the League to guard the North Wing of the hospital, and Moira and Connor where left in the hallway, hoping against hope that their friends and family members would be okay…

* * *

When Oliver and his friends arrived at the Arrow Cave, they were surprised to find that location already had two unexpected guests present inside…Sara Lance and Nyssa (formerly Al Ghul)!

Laurel was the first to notice her sister was already inside the old Argus base, which the Canary still had a key to, and she immediately greeted her sister with a hug! "Sara! It' so good to see you again!" The eldest Lance sibling then shot a glare towards Nyssa, the woman who had once kidnapped the Lance siblings' mother and tried to take the youngest Lance back to the League of Assassins by force about a year ago.

Nyssa shook her head and turned to Sara. "I told you it was a bad idea for me to come along on this foolish mission with you, beloved. I don't think I will be welcome amongst your friends here."

Sara rolled her eyes while Laurel mouthed "beloved?" to Oliver, who just shrugged as the blonde sister started talking. "Don't be so dramatic, Nyssa. You're an acquired taste, but my friends will learn to like you…" The youngest Lance then turned to her sister and lightly smacked her arm. "And you! Play nice! Nyssa rescued me when Oliver was forced to leave me behind on Nanda Parbat! I think that's earned Nyssa a second chance! The same chance you all gave Isabel!"

Laurel looked thoughtful, Oliver just shrugged again, and the rest of Team Arrow just ignored the whole spectacle before the Canary said. "I heard about what happened today, by the way, Oliver! I'm so sorry Nyssa and I weren't here for your and Isabel's second wedding to help you stop Darhk. We did see the first one though, on Nanda Parbat. My girlfriend and I were just hiding because…."

Oliver raised his hand, then smiled. "No need to apologize or explain Sara. The former is unnecessary, and we will have time for the latter at a later time. Right now, my wife is getting ready to give birth, and Batman personally asked me to save a woman named Selina Kyle, who is scheduled to be executed in less than an hour by Damien Dark. So all we really have time for is to gear up to go save Miss Kyle right now. I just have one question for you, Sara. Do you trust Nyssa to help us on this mission?"

Sara smiled at Nyssa, who smiled right back, before the former replied. "Yes. I trust her with my life."

Oliver nodded and started collecting his gear, including an item that the rest of Team Arrow didn't recognize, while he spoke. "That's good enough for me, then. We need all the manpower…excuse me, people, we can get for this mission against Darhk, since I can't use any assassins for this."

Although he didn't look in her direction, Laurel knew that last sentence was directed at her, and the newly anointed heroine known as Cobalt nodded her head in reply and started to gear up with the others.

Within minutes, Team Arrow, the Canary and Nyssa were in their respective vehicles and on the road to Miss Kyle's location….

* * *

A little under 30 minutes later…

Oliver reflected, not for the first time since this operation had started, that getting into this HIVE fortress had been entirely too easy. He, Nyssa, Sara, Diggle and Felicity had counted only 30 Ghosts, total in the compound using binoculars and hacked security footage of the compound, and only about five of Darhk's men had been posted near the fortresses West entrance, which was were Team Arrow had begun their assault that had barely lasted 5 minutes. Since then, the Arrow and his compatriots had seen no sign of Selina Kyle, Damien Darhk, or any other HIVE agents in the facility which, appropriately enough, now resembled a ghost town. Which meant one of two things. Either the Batman had been wrong, and Selina Kyle wasn't actually here, or, more likely, this whole situation was a trap set by Damien Darhk. At this particular moment, after he and his teammates had split up to cover more ground in their search, with less than 15 minutes left until Darhk's deadline for killing Miss Kyle, Oliver was betting on, and almost hoping for, the latter scenario.

"Hello, Mr. Queen! So glad you could join me here on such short notice!"

As the Arrow turned around to confront the pale-eyed man, none other than Damien Darhk himself, Oliver thought to himself that he really hated being right sometimes. And also, that he really had to be more careful what he wished for.

The dark wizard's words interrupted the vigilante's thoughts as the former party smiled and said. "You know, even after I told Bruce Wayne I'd kidnapped his lady friend and was holding her here, I was beginning to worry that you weren't coming before you and your team finally arrived at this humble facility 20 minutes ago. But I really should have known better than that! 'Fair maidens must be rescued.' Isn't that in the hero manual all of you pain in the ass do-gooders seem to take your plays from?"

The Arrow pulled out his bow and a single arrow, aiming both at Damien as he said. "I believe it's on page one, yeah. Unfortunately, there isn't a clause that says that you can kill your adversary if he's a persistent threat to your loved ones, but I like to call that reading between the lines. Enough talk. This conflict between us ends now!"

The emerald archer was just about to release his bowstring before his adversary stopped him with his words. "I guess you don't want to know where Selina Kyle is, then? Like I said, I know she's the reasons you are here…."

"AHHHHHH!"

As if to emphasize his point, the sound of a woman screaming somewhere close by echoed throughout the facility, right into the large octagonal room at the center of the complex. The same room that the Arrow and Damien Darhk were now standing in. Oliver could also dimly hear the sound of another individual, a male, speaking in a guttural voice in Arabic, a language the vigilante himself had recently learned from all the time he had spent among his fellow assassins in the League. Therefore, the hero was just barely able to make out the gist of what the male voice was saying as its owner protested. "There is no need for this! We are men of honor, such pointless tortures are beneath us! Miss Kyle deserves to die for killing my beloved, but there is no need to draw things out like this….."

Arrow heard another, softer, but still masculine voice respond to the first male, but Oliver couldn't quite make out the words of the second male before the first male spoke again. "Fine! Then I will speak to Mr. Darhk myself then. Torturing a woman is beneath us, so I will secure his permission to snap Catwoman's neck quickly, as I should have been allowed to do in the first place!"

Damien, who had been just been standing still and grinning while this entire verbal exchange took place, just sighed. "Ah. Domestic troubles. Every organization has them, unfortunately. Bane for example (for the man so hates it when I use his real name) often doesn't like the methods of my torture experts, Marcus Fowler. The man is strong, and even intelligent enough to be useful, but I'm afraid…"

Darhk lowered his voice to a whisper the Arrow could barely hear now. "That Bane often has a lack of vision when it comes to these kinds of things. He's still obsessed with his so-called honor and decency…all the trapping of your League of Assassins. The values of the past. My organization, however, represents the ideals of the future, and we recognize that sometimes it is more useful, and more fun, to draw these things out a bit…"

Oliver's hands began to return to his bow, causing Damien to sigh again before he said. "Fine. If you insist on being boring about things and making me cut to the chase, I will…"

Damien pointed to the hallway right behind him. "Miss Kyle is that way. She is being held in the room behind the second door to your right. However, like your friends, who are probably being ambushed by reinforcement Ghosts who will be parachuting around my facility right about…"Damien quickly looked at his watch and smiled. "Now, you won't live long enough to get to her."

Mr. Darhk turned towards said hallway and yelled. "I'll be with you in just a moment Bane, I have a vigilante to kill!"

Several things happened at once after that, as all of the metal doors which allowed the occupants of the octagonal room to enter and exit said room to/from the rest of the facility slammed shut around him after Darhk made a gesture with his left hand, and Oliver's com-link stopped humming and went silent.

The Arrow responded to these events by firing an arrow at Damien, but the warlock just looked at the projectile, and it came apart before the explosive inside the projectile could activate, and chains which had been hanging from the ceiling of the octagonal room, chains which Oliver had seen when he entered the room, but didn't really know the purpose of, fell from the rafters and circled the Arrow's torso, limbs and throat as they began to suffocate the hero. Damien Darhk smiled. "Goodbye, Mr. Queen. I'm afraid our little contest is now at end…Although you should know I will also be killing all of your friends and loved ones shortly after you die. So don't worry, you will be reuniting with them soon."

After that sentence was spoken Damien quickly crossed the room and reached out to lay his hand on Oliver Queen's chest.

* * *

…..Elsewhere….

Athena fired another tranq at a Ghost as yet another wave of HIVE agents parachuted into the facility throw panes of glass from outside of the HIVE complex. As she was doing so, she heard gunshots from what sounded like several locations from her comlink. Several seconds later, she also heard all of her teammates yelling at around the same time. This is Cobalt! I'm surrounded and my electric gauntlets are out of juice!" "Canary here, Overwatch just sent me your location! I'm coming for you, sis!" " "What is it with all of these foolish code names?! Our enemy already knows who we are."

Thea could almost hear Nyssa's eyes roll as the Arrow's sister opened a door then rushed up a flight of stairs to avoid gunfire from a dozen venom enhanced Ghosts while the daughter of the previous Demon spoke again. "I'm right behind you, beloved!" Roy sounded annoyed himself when he added, "Save it for the bedroom, girls! We need to be more serious in the field, here! I'm coming to help you as well, Cobalt!"

Nyssa began to retort something to the effect of her being taught to kill when the Red Arrow was still in diapers before Spartan's voice came over the comlink. "Enough! We have enough problems without our team fighting amongst each other! We're all coming to help you, Cobalt! What's your status, Arrow?"

Overwatch (aka Felicity) spoke to Team Arrow in a panicked voice. "Yeah, about that. I just lost Oliver's location in the complex, and the ability to communicate with him, about 30 seconds ago! Also, I can't open the doors to the room Oli…I mean, the Arrow, was last known to be in because those doors aren't computer controlled, but from what I can see from security footage just outside that room, the doors are still sealed shut somehow…"

"Darhk…" Thea spoke between breaths as she continued to run from the Ghosts that were still on her tail. The only things keeping Athena calm right now, as she downed another ghosts with a tranq arrow and just managed to doge his comrades returning fire, where Isabel's training and the fact that she had a plan to get out of this situation once she reached the roof. In the meantime, she listened as Spartan, after checking again to see if everyone was okay, and Laurel/Cobalt replied between ragged breaths that she was hanging in there, but needed reinforcements real soon, that Spartan said. "Okay, that means I'm in charge for the moment. Athena, rest of us are going to help Cobalt now, but you're closest to the roof. We need a birds-eye view on how bad the Ghosts situation around us is STAT! Do you copy!?"

Thea grimaced as she spoke. "Kind of in the middle of situation here myself, but I will do what I can!"

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Thea reached the roof at the 12th floor of the building, which gave her a perfect view of the entire complex, including the courtyard, where Cobalt was trying to fight off three enhanced Ghosts (who were laughing at Laurel's attempts to subdue them with her de-powered gray gauntlets) who were using the inexperienced heroine as punching bag. Athena was alarmed by Cobalt's situation, even though she also felt somewhat proud when she saw the large amount of unconscious Ghosts (which Thea guessed amounted to at least 6 HIVE agents) around the newly anointed gray-suited, black masked heroine. Even after using one of her brother's trick arrows to magnetically seal the door behind here, Thea only had several seconds to see what happened next as the three men around Laurel, starting with the one nearest the Cobalt, who was about to give Laurel a killing blow) were taken down by a black arrow to the throat, a red tranq arrow, and a tranquilizer dart from Nyssa, Roy, and Diggle, respectfully.

Athena never saw the first Ghosts in question drop to the ground dead, or an exhausted Laurel giving her teammates, including Nyssa, a silent thank you as the Canary dashed to the scene and helped Laurel limp out of harm's way while Nyssa and the male members of team Arrow (sans Oliver) covered the two sisters. No, all Thea's mind was focused on after she saw Laurel being saved was the wave after wave of Ghosts who were parachuting from the night sky down towards the facility. "Spartan, I have bad news for you! The situation is bad! Waves of Ghosts are coming down from the air! Maybe hundreds of them!"

Spartan sighed on his end of the line. "Then we have no choice! We have to retreat now!"

This announcement was met by various protests from most of the members of team Arrow, but Spartan quickly interrupted them. "Quiet! We don't have time to debate this! We can't fight hundreds of soldiers without backup! Ol…the Arrow has been in situations like this before, and I hope he will be able to escape alone, but if not, we will come back here with hundreds of assassins to rescue him within the hour! But if we don't want to die, we need to evacuate this base right now! Emergency Evac plan C goes into effect right now!"

As if to punctuate his words, the metal door behind Thea finally gave way to gunfire and a relentless pounding by the numerous Ghosts who poured on to the rooftop, forcing Thea to use a zip line arrow on a nearby tall tree to escape to the courtyard below. Moments later, every light on the outside of the HIVE base, and in all but one room on the inside of the base, turned off, leaving Team Arrow (who all had night vision goggles ready for this hazardous night mission) free to stealthily flee from the various Ghosts surrounding them (some of which ended up DOA as the lights going off caused them to land in the wrong places, winding up landing on their heads, impaled on trees and fences, etc.). Even so, many members of the team, including Diggle, Sara, and Thea, still ended up getting shot at least once or twice, with only their League of Assassins issue armor protecting them from sustaining more than cracked ribs and bruises as a result. Within minutes, Team Arrow was clear of the facility.

Everyone except for the Arrow himself, that is.

* * *

…Inside the HIVE base…

Damien Darhk suddenly withdrew his hand, and his killing touch, from the still chain-restrained Oliver. The villain then smirked and leaned towards Oliver's ear, as if he was about to convey a secret to a trusted confidant. "Do you want to know the funniest part of this whole situation? The real reason that I kidnapped Miss Kyle, apart from luring you into an obvious trap which you fell for anyway, was that was that the only thing that Bane demanded of me in return for turning against the League of Assassins, was that I would capture Catwoman for him and allow him to kill her, a request your predecessor denied, because my associate had been lead to believe that his dead lover, Talia al Ghul, the old Demon's eldest daughter had been sent to kill Batman, and that she was killed by Catwoman instead and mauled beyond recognition and hope of resurrection. This was, of course, a lie."

Darhk grinned at Oliver's suppressed expression, not noticing the Arrow touching something inside his sleeve as the master of HIVE continued speaking with a smile. "The truth was, your predecessor didn't like his eldest consorting with Bane. He feared the two of them were conspiring together to overthrow him. So, the cold-hearted bastard sent both of them on suicide missions. Bane survived his, whatever it was. But Talia, who had been assigned to kill me, didn't fare so well. In fact, as I'm sure the old Demon expected, I killed her myself, in the exact same manner as I'm about to kill you. After that, the old fool told everyone in his organization the ridiculous lie that Miss Kyle killed his daughter, to fan the flames of the leagues hatred for the Batman and his allies. A hatred I exploited in order to convert Bane to my cause. But just in case my deception was ever discovered, I have kept a trump card, and ace in the hole if you will. Talia's dead body. Perfectly preserved, and carefully hidden away in one of HIVE's less well known bases in Central America. Not that I ever expect Bane to find out I lied to him but…"

Damien shrugged. "She makes for a nice trophy that I like to look at from time to time. Actually, I think I might display your body right next to Talia's when this is all over and done with. Anyway, just thought that would make for an interesting story to share with you before you die. Thought it might help you appreciate the irony of your present situation. Or perhaps not. Oh well, time to die."

Damien put his hand fully on Oliver's chest this time, but his touch of death technique served him no better against the Arrow then it had against Isabel, and, after only a moment's pain on the emerald archers part, Damien Darhk was thrown across the room, even as the chains on Oliver's body loosened enough to allow the hero to escape them, while the Arrow's com-link came back on and the metal doors leading to the octagonal room all opened simultaneously. After he did so, Damien raised his right arm, to cast another spell, Oliver guesses, but the dark magician's efforts proved fruitless, as the arm Damien raised began to bleed heavily instead, and the pale-eyed man yelled out in pain before he glared right at Oliver and swore. "Damn it! First it's that…thing that you and your wife spawned together! Now it's you…with traces of the damn Lazarus Pitt all over you! I should have seen it before! That was my mistake! But…"

Damien managed to smirk, even though his pain. "Luckily, Venom is immune to the effects of the Lazarus Pitt! Come now, Bane! One of Catwoman's allies is here with me, trying to set the woman who killed your lover free! Would you be so kind as to kill the Arrow before dispatching Miss Kyle please?! Thank you!"

Still recovering from the brief pain in his chest, the Arrow was unable to do anything but watch as Damien limped away, while mumbling something over a radio about ordering all HIVE personnel to escort him to a HIVE medical facility immediately, even as a massive man, clad entirely in black, including a face mask and the largest set of League of Assassins armor that the Arrow had ever seen, enter the room. The Arrow soon found, however, that Bane's size didn't diminish the League traitor's speed in the slightest, however, as the masked man was upon the emerald archer in a flash before he could fully recover!

Bane's blow knocked Oliver Queen into a nearby wall, cracking three of the Arrow ribs in the process. The man in the black mask then laughed. It was a low guttural sound. Damian's enforcer then pointed to the Arrow and spoke. "The League must have come upon hard times in my absence indeed, to let a man as weak as you become the next Ra's al Ghul! I was hoping for someone more…well, more. Pity. But I expect I will still enjoy killing you a great deal, Oliver Queen!"

The Arrow smirked. "I think you would find me a much greater challenge in a fight than you might imagine, Bane! But the two of us don't need to fight…"

Bane snarled. "That's where you are wrong, Arrow!"

And with no other words being spoken, Bane lunged towards the Arrow yet again!

* * *

…..15 minutes later….

Oliver Queen limped into the hallway after his long, drawn-out fight with Bane. The Arrow, who was carrying a long, black cloak, was sore, bruised and bleeding, but he wore a smile on his face as he radioed his teammates that, not only was he still alive, but that the base he was in was now cleared of HIVE personnel, and that he was on his way to rescue Selina Kyle. The current Ra's al-Ghul also contacted Sarab, and told him to immediately act on a piece of Intel he had been able to acquire from Bane after a round of "aggressive negotiations." But the smile on the Arrow's face immediately fell of his face immediately went away when he opened the door to Selina's torture chamber and saw the shape Catwoman, who had been left behind by her former torturer and every other Ghosts in the facility, was in.

In short, she did not look well. She looked half-starved, both of the dark haired woman's eyes were blackened, her lips were split, swollen and bleeding, and her currently naked body was covered in cuts and bruises while both of her legs were bent at an unnatural angle. Furthermore, the villainess/anti-heroine seemed to be somewhere on the edge of consciousness, and she didn't even respond to the Arrow's presence in the room before he used the cloak he brought with him to cover up Selina's body after he set her free from her chains using a nearby key, which had been hanging on a wall.

The Arrow felt nothing but pity for Miss Kyle as she finally began to stir as he threw her over his shoulder and began to walk out of the room. Catwoman gave the Arrow a split smile (although the hero never saw it from the woman's position hanging over his shoulder) and (barely) managed to speak. "I knew you would come…"

Catwoman's eyes widened as she realized her savior was not who she thought he would be. "Wait…the Arrow? Why isn't Mr.… tall…dark and…brooding here to save me? Pointy ears? Cape? I trust… you know…who I'm referring to…"

The Arrow sighed. "Please try not to talk, Miss. You need to save your strength. And if it makes you feel better, Batman desperately wanted to help you, but he was busy saving a bunch of children from getting blown up, so he had to send me here to save you in his place."

Catwoman laughed, a pained, hollow sound in her dry throat. "I need to talk to stay awake. Or else…Anyway, I guess…I can let Bats off the hook…for not recuing me… himself then. Just this once. Not that…I needed rescuing…you understand. I had them…right where I wanted them."

Oliver couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of the lie as he carefully guided Catwoman to the nearest exit to the building. "I'm sure you did, ma'am."

"You know…"Catwoman managed to let out a purring sound that almost sounded seductive, despite her wounded state, as she added. "I might…let you kiss me…just this once. You know…for rescuing me…not that I needed it…but still. And it would probably make dark and brooding jealous. And that's…always fun."

Oliver chuckled. "That's a temping offer, Miss. But I'm afraid I must decline. You see…" Oliver vaguely gestured towards Selina with his left ring finger, which held his recently acquired wedding band, as well as his League of Assassins ring. "I'm married. And I love my wife too much to do something like that."

Selina let out a long dramatic sigh, which then turned into a small fit of coughing before she said in a teasing tone. "Wow….You're even…less fun…than Batman…at least he…lets himself…have a little fun…with me…sometimes. Lots of fun…sometimes…."

Oliver was glad that his team choose that moment to arrive at the former HIVE facility's courtyard, saving him from hearing what probably would have been an awkward monologue from Selina, who seemed to be going slightly loopy due to blood loss. Therefore, the Arrow was smiling when Thea spoke to her brother on behalf of the team. "Are you okay, Ollie? How did you get away? And where are all the Ghosts?"

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Miss Kyle laughed darkly. "Wait. Don't answer that. I…probably look like chopped liver…about now."

The Arrow shook his head. "I'm just fine, Speedy. I'll explain what happened later. Right now, Miss Kyle needs medical attention and I…I need to get back to the hospital to see my daughter being born!"

* * *

…..15 minutes later…

While Diggle was escorting Selina Kyle to the E.R., Oliver rushed into his wife's hospital room, after a quick word with Sarab, who indicated he had done as his master had told him to do several minutes ago, just as Isabel was going through her final set of contractions. The Arrow sat at the Midnight Sentinel's side for the last five minutes of her pregnancy, even as his wife held his hand for dear life so hard that it made that hand numb. Not that Oliver minded…too much.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Oliver and Isabel's child finished crowning and exited Isabel's body, along with the placenta. After the doctors announced, minutes later, that her daughter was healthy, despite being extremely premature and looking she had "only" developed in the womb eight months (although it had actually been far less time than that, in reality), Isabel immediately demanded that her baby be brought to her. As if she understood what her mom was saying, Oliver and Isabel's daughter immediately began thrashing around wildly in the arms of the doctor who was holding her. The same doctor who tried to tell Isabel they needed to run some tests on her and Oliver's baby before he gave in to what Isabel and her baby (who was still trying to wriggle out of the doctor's grasps as she kept extending her right hand towards Isabel, with her young, gray eyes already completely open) obviously wanted, and handed the baby to Isabel.

The Arrow sat by his wife on her bed and hugged her back while Isabel held onto her and her husband's baby for several minutes and smiled before she said. "She's so beautiful, Oliver! And she had my nose, and from what little hair she has already, she'll have dark hair, like me! But she has her daddy's eyes!"

Oliver and Isabel's eyes lit up with wonder as their daughter pointed, first towards Isabel's nose, then vaguely in the direction of Oliver's eyes, before the baby touched her own nose and put two fingers right below her eyes.

Saying what they were both obviously thinking, Oliver shook his head. "Isabel, I think you and I have a very smart baby!"

Isabel nodded, and said something to the same effect while shedding happy tears while looking at her baby. Both parents were so focused on their child, in fact, that they did not notice Sarab looking into the room from the hallway, or see the thoughtful look on the assassin's face or the tears in his eyes, which the assassin blinked away. Nor did they see the assassin turn away from the operating room and leaving another assassin to guard the room while he went somewhere more private.

No, Oliver and Isabel saw none of these things while they were looking down at their child, even as Isabel shook her head and said. "In fact, I think we both know our baby is more than just smart, she's extraordinary! But she needs a name now, Oliver. And now that she's been born, I'm not afraid that anything will happen if we name our baby now. Not like what happened to my mom after she named me before I was born. I wish she could be here right now…"

Oliver squeezed Isabel's shoulders gently after seeing a few more tears leave his wife's eyes, even as their baby struggled to wipe her mom's tears away with her short little arms. "Me too. In fact, if you don't mind the suggestion. I remember you telling me your birth mom's name was…"

Isabel smiled as her tears became happy ones again. "Natasha! That's perfect! What do you think, little girl!?"

The child smiled widely at both of her parents and gently squeezed Isabel's right index finger, causing Isabel to giggle slightly while Oliver silently beamed down at his daughter with pride while his wife spoke. "That's it, then. Your name is Natasha Rochev-Queen!"

 **AN: Whew! This chapter was a lot longer than I thought it would be! As always, my thanks go out to all of my readers and reviewers, especially Pootamis, Phillipe363, Ravenmore45, highlander348 (who gave me the idea to have Laurel's code name be Cobalt, as well as many other ideas I have used in this fanfic) and Troll99, who reviewed my last chapter!**

 **Usually, I would have more to say here, but I think there are too many possible subjects in this chapter for me to cover right now, and I've already stayed up much later than I intended completing this chapter. So all I will say is that I hope you all liked the chapter, but honest feedback would be greatly appreciated!**

 **Actually, I will say this, though, you'll see more about what happened during the Oliver vs. Bane fight later.**

 **Thanks again to all my readers! And thanks again to my wonderful beta-reader! Your help is greatly appreciated!**

 **Until next time, I am…**

… **.supercode**

,


	6. Tying Up Loose Ends Part 1

Shortly after Natasha was named and she and her mother were moved to another hospital room, the doctors gave both Isabel and her newborn a clean bill of health and announced that the mother and child would be allowed to have visitors for a "short time". Predictably, this announcement led to absolute chaos entering the maternity ward as wave after wave of visitors came to see Oliver, Isabel and Natasha.

Moira, Thea and Connor were the first to visit the room, and the former two fawned over the newest addition to the Queen family and asked if they could hold "little Natasha", a request Isabel reluctantly granted, but the brunette still wouldn't allow anyone except herself and Oliver to hold Natasha for more than a minute at a time. Connor, on the other hand had to be repeatedly told to use his "inside voice" as he kept loudly exclaiming over and over, that "It's so cool that I have a little sister now!" and asking his dad and stepmom when Natasha could come home. During this time, Oliver and Isabel introduced Natasha to her family members one by one. The newborn simply smiled and nodded when she was introduced to her grandma Moira and aunt Thea, but when it came time for Natasha to be introduced to Connor, the latter party waved excitedly at his new baby sister and introduced himself. "Hello, Natasha! I'm your big brother, Connor!"

To the amazement of everyone in the room, Natasha copied her brother's gesture as well as her uncoordinated arms would allow, and she looked right at Connor while she smiled at waved back at him. This action on Natasha's part earned a smile from Oliver and Isabel (the latter of which the Arrow had told about Constantine's words concerning their child before allowing the rest of their family in the room to see Natasha), looks of confusion from Moira and Thea, and more excited exclamations from Connor that: "She waved at me! My little sister waved at me! She knows I'm her big brother! That is so cool!"

After this short visit from Natasha's family members had ended however, Felicity and Diggle also entered the room to check on Isabel and Natasha. While Diggle simply said that he wanted to see if two of his friends and their child were alright, and apologized that Lyla couldn't make it to see Natasha being born due to "ARGUS business", Felicity's explanation for her visit had a little bit less brevity."

The blonde with glasses looked right at Isabel, then Natasha. "Wow. I'm so glad you and your baby are okay, Isabel, because the doctor said that it was touch and go in here for a while. Not that I'm saying the doctor didn't know what he was doing, but you two look like you are doing great now. Also, not that I wasn't concerned about how your injuries were, or about exactly what happened at that place, with that Darhk thing, but you look like you are doing okay, Oliver, and I wasn't sure until five minutes ago if Isabel and Natasha were doing okay…"

Both Isabel and Diggle had to fight to keep themselves from laughing at Felicity's rambling while Oliver just smirked at his blonde friend's awkwardness. Natasha, on the other hand, had no such inhibitions, and the newborn baby actually giggled in Felicity's direction. This earned a responding laugh from everyone else in the room, including Felicity herself, who then looked at Natasha and said with a smile. "You're learning to laugh already? Aren't you just full of surprises!? That's like, a really good thing though. Trust me, little girl, you don't want to take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive."

Before Oliver could even think of how to respond to Felicity's words, since the Arrow had an inkling Natasha might be able to understand at least some of what his IT expert was saying, Isabel smiled at Felicity and said. "That advice may be a little heavy for my daughter at this point, Felicity. She was only just born today, after all! But thank you for being here today for me, Natasha and Oliver!"

The brunette turned towards John and added. "You too, Diggle. I know the three of us didn't get along all that much in the beginning, but…I'm glad that's over, and that you and Felicity are both here now."

Diggle just smiled and nodded at that, but Felicity was beaming when she replied. "I'm really glad we're friends now too, Isabel! And as your and Oliver's friend, there was no way I was going to miss seeing you two and your precious, adorable little baby Natasha on the day she was born! Oh, and I know the hospital food here is terrible, but just between you me…."

Felicity leaned towards Isabel's ear and whispered into the brunette's ear. "One of the orderlies here owes me a big favor since I helped him recover a bunch of patient files that he accidently deleted from the hospital's computer. He still has his job because I was able to get those files back so…Just say the word if you want something that's not on the hospital's menu, and he and I will hook you up with whatever you need!"

Isabel smirked. "I always knew you were smart, but I must say, you keep surprising me with how resourceful you are. I may just have to take you up on that offer later, Miss Smoak."

Soon after Diggle and Felicity left the room, Sara and Laurel Lance, as well as Roy Harper and even Nyssa (formerly al Ghul, who was wearing a dark, hooded jacket so she wouldn't be seen by any cops who might recognize her) entered the maternity word to welcome the newest member of the Queen family into the world. As this last group of visitors, along with Tommy Merlyn came into the room, Oliver Queen whispered something into Isabel's ear. After the brunette nodded with a serious look on her face, the Arrow left the room with a frown while saying there was something he needed to take care of. The group of visitors in the room simply shrugged in shared puzzlement before they all said hi to Natasha and gave Isabel their best wishes for the new baby while promising they would band together with the Queen family's other friends and family members to have a late baby shower for Natasha as soon as possible. And last of all, Nyssa recited a few words in Arabic while looking right at Natasha, before explaining to Isabel that she had just recited a traditional League blessing, of a sort, over Natasha, one daughter of the Demon to another.

Isabel had been a little disturbed by the implications of this, but the brunette smiled at Nyssa anyway while making a mental note to ask Oliver (who had already learned to speak Arabic fluently in order to be a better master of assassins for the League) exactly what Nyssa's blessing over their baby entailed, and said. "Thank you very much for your blessing Nyssa. And thanks to all of you for being here for me, Oliver, and Natasha today. Also, Nyssa, I'm sorry I haven't gotten the chance to say this before today, but I'm sorry that I well, killed you months ago. It wasn't something that I actually wanted to do, but it doesn't change the fact that…"

The daughter of the previous Demon shook her head. "Apologies are unnecessary. I don't remember much about what happened, or what I was made to do, under Malcolm Merlyn's control, but Sara told me the circumstances of my last death, that you were defending yourself and your stepson when you killed me. And although I will not apologize for actions that I had no control over, I bare no animosity towards you for defending yourself and your loved ones from me when I was under the Dark Archer's control. My death was Malcolm Merlyn's fault, and no one else's. Do we understand each other?"

Isabel smiled slightly. "Perfectly. Thank you. However, if all of you will excuse me, I think both Natasha and I need to get some rest now while we wait for Oliver to get back."

As if on cue, Natasha yawned, and everybody in the maternity room, except for Nyssa, who merely smiled, laughed, before the Lances, Nyssa, and Roy all left the room while reaffirming their desire for only good things to happen for Oliver, Isabel and their child. Then, after what seemed like an eternity for the mother and daughter, Isabel and Natasha were finally allowed to fall asleep and get some rest for the first time since the latter had entered the world.

* * *

….Meanwhile…

Oliver entered the dark basement of Starling General Hospital with a frown still firmly on his face. The current Demon's Head then walked towards the only section of the basement that was illuminated by a single working light bulb. That overhanging light illuminated the two individuals who were currently sharing the basement with Oliver Queen. The first individual was standing when Oliver entered the room, but the dark clad assassin quickly bowed towards the current Ra's al Ghul as soon as he saw the Arrow was now in the basement as well. "I am honored by your presence my lord, as always."

Sarab, the assassin who had been called Maseo in another life, raised his head and his eyes towards the man he considered his master as he added. "But…" The Asian man hesitated, but after remembering an earlier conversation with Oliver, during which the latter party had stated he welcomed constructive criticism from his old friend, who knew more about League tradition than Oliver, as long as it was not made in front of other assassins, the Japanese assassin continued voicing his thoughts. "Are you sure you wish to execute this piece of human excrement yourself? This traitor is scum, worse than scum, for betraying your identity to Darhk! Let me dispose of this refuse for you, master! He does not deserve to die by your hand!"

Oliver Queen looked at the man Sarab was referring to, a man who was currently gagged and bound to a chair, courtesy of the assassin formerly known as Maseo. The man who, according to Bane, who had no reason to lie at the time he had spoken to Oliver, was the one responsible for betraying him, his family, and the League of Assassins. A man who had, apparently, only joined in on the attack against Damien's forces in order to avoid any suspicion that might lead to the discovery he was a traitor. A man who had nearly cost Oliver his life twice. A man that Oliver Queen had spared once before, although the Demon knew he would not make that mistake again.

Oliver glared at the traitorous Nathan Falcon, who was only just now coming back to consciousness and shouting out muffled screams of terror now that he was recovering from Sarab's attack. The current Ra's al Ghul continued to glare at his traitorous underling as he spoke to Sarab. "No. I have to deal with this myself. You yourself told me that some in the League are starting to think I'm weak because I have barely killed anyone since becoming Ra's al Ghul. That I don't have the stomach for killing anymore. And in most circumstances, old friend, I would have to admit they are right. Just one thing though. The man in front of me nearly caused me, and more importantly, everyone I love to be killed tonight. So for him, I will make an exception and kill him. Maybe then the League will finally understand what kind of man I really am. And I want to do this by myself, if you don't mind. I trust I won't be disturbed?"

Oliver saw Sarab shake his head from the corner of his eye while the Japanese man spoke. "No, my lord. Nobody saw me entering this basement with this traitorous filth, and the only staff member who ever comes down here has been incapacitated."

Seeing Oliver raise his eyebrows at that last statement, Sarab quickly added. "He will be fine, my lord, aside from a headache, but I assure you he will not awaken for several hours. Also, I myself will personally guard the only door to this section of the building while you finish off this traitor. Just let me know when you are finished, so I can dispose of Falcon's body properly. Also…If you have a moment, after you are done disposing of this refuse, there is something else I would like to speak to you about, with your permission…"

Oliver nodded, and Sarab took that as his cue and started walking towards the basement door, only pausing briefly when the emerald archer added in Arabic. "Just try not to kill anybody while I'm down here."

Sarab only nodded before he opened the door to the only stairwell that went to and from this level of the hospital, then stepped outside to guard the door.

One Oliver was sure he no longer had an audience, and was satisfied, after scanning the basement, that there were no cameras at this level, the Arrow walked toward his captive and removed the gag from Nathan Falcon's mouth while he continued to glare at the man. A moment later, the Arrow spoke. "Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself? Any reason at all that I shouldn't kill you? Any reason for betraying the man who spared your life just months ago!? Answer me, damn it!"

Nathan Falcon smirked and let out a low chuckle, even as Oliver pulled a small knife out from his sleeve. "Please. You can put that away now. You aren't going to kill me, Queen. There may have been a time you could kill an unarmed prisoner in cold blood, but we both know you are too soft for that now. Too afraid to get your own hands dirty. You proved that the day you let me, someone who actually tried to kill you, live. That was the day that I knew that you were too soft to rule the League of Assassins. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. There have been other assassins who have been whispering the same thing for months. But I was the only one who had the stones to do something about it! So, after capturing a HIVE operative, then letting him go with a message for Darhk, I met with Damien. And he and I made a deal. All I had to do was tell him who the new Ra's al Ghul was. In return, after he killed you, and your family and friends, I would be put in charge of the League of Assassins, and I would answer to no one but Darhk himself. So of course, I took the deal. I bet on the winning team, because I know that Damien is a cold blooded killer with powers you could never hope to match. That's how I know he is going to kill you."

Nathan laughed again, a sound that made Oliver's blood boil, before the traitor added. "I know that just as surely as I know that you won't kill me, Mr. Queen. It's just not in you, not anymore. You may have been a killer on Liam Yu, and in Hong Kong and Moscow, but Starling City, and all of the people you care about here, including that pretty brunette squeeze you have upstairs and your two brats, they've tamed you. Made you soft. Made you weak. Made you actually believe that someone like you can be a hero. And heroes don't kill unarmed men who are tied to chairs, do they Mr. Queen?"

Oliver frowned again and lowered the blade in his hand, which he had been pointing at Nathan's throat while he spoke, towards the ground while he wrestled with his feelings of guilt and self-doubt concerning whether it was right to execute the man who had plotted against his family. This moment of hesitation was all that Falcon needed to finish untying his binds, which he had been working on since he had awoken, and strike out his right hand towards a pressure point on Oliver's chest. A spot that, when pressed on hard enough in just the right way, resulted in the death of any individual on the receiving end of such a blow.

Nathan's aim was impeccable, and his hand struck true. If it weren't for the fact that Oliver was still wearing League armor underneath his shirt, Falcon's blow would have killed Oliver Queen. As it was however, the traitor's decision only pissed the current Ra's al Ghul off, and reaffirmed in his mind that killing Nathan was the right thing to do.

It was over in an instant, and the Arrow was operating purely on instinct when he slashed his attacker's throat with the knife in his hands, severing all the major arteries in Nathan's neck, killing the League traitor instantly.

Several seconds after Nathan had died and Oliver had calmed down after stepping away from the puddle of blood that was forming underneath him body, not a drop of which had managed to land on Oliver himself, the current Demon's Head actually found himself chuckling slightly. This action caused the emerald archer to wonder if something was wrong with him now, due to being Ra's al Ghul for several months, or if he was just in shock from having to kill again. However, after reminding himself that he already had a plan to get rid of his place in the League of Assassins as soon as Darhk was dealt with, the Arrow felt a little better, and the archer decided he was just trying to make light of the situation so that he wouldn't become too depressed over having to kill again. To this end, Oliver looked down at the body of the man who had betrayed his organization and his master and said. "I am of course, wearing full body armor. I'm not a moron."

Several seconds later, Oliver walked out of the dark basement, after making sure there was no blood on his clothes or person. The archer then stood right next to Sarab, who was still standing to attention outside of the basement door, before Oliver spoke while trying not to let the guilt he was feeling over Falcon's death show. "It's done. You can tell the other assassins that their Ra's al Ghul finally got his hands dirty again. I hope that makes my followers happy."

Although Sarab could not have failed to detect the sarcasm in Oliver's voice, he did not comment on it. "I shall do so, my lord. Word of Nathan's execution should placate those in the League who may have falsely believed that you were unfit to rule them. Now they will know that you are strong, even if you usually keep that strength tempered, as all wise men with power do."

Oliver only frowned at Sarab's reply, so the latter added. "I know executing a man can be a hard thing, for someone who has not had to do so often. But in this case, it was necessary. Nathan Falcon betrayed all of us and nearly got your family killed. His death was necessary."

'Was it?' Oliver couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't another way. If Captain, soon to be Police Chief, Lance couldn't have found some pretext to put Nathan behind bars till the end of time instead. Trying not to dwell on these thoughts, however, and knowing that there was no way to undo what he had done, the Arrow tried to placate his friend with a forced smile and a nod as he said. "I suppose you're right. Now, I guess we still have a few moments before you have to dispose of the body?"

Sarab only nodded, so Oliver elaborated on his thought. "Well then, what did you wish to speak to me about, old friend?"

Sarab was quiet for almost a minute, before he took a deep breath and said. "Oliver…I mean, my lord. I must confess that recent events have made me doubt my commitment to…I mean, if I am still suited for a life among the League of Assassins. I wish to help you finish your crusade against Darhk, since he is a persistent threat to you and your family, but after Damien is dead….I would like to take you up on your offer to release me from the League of Assassins if that offer is still on the table…my lord."

Oliver raised his right eyebrow in surprise as he noted the uncharacteristic nervousness in Sarab's voice, a tone of voice he had only heard the man known as Maseo use once, when the Triads had Tatsu held captive, and the normally stoic Japanese man had been a nervous wreck while he was worrying about his wife while he and Oliver had been trying to rescue her. Pushing away that memory, as well as the selfish thought that Sarab quitting the League would ruin his plan to arrange for the title of Ra's al Ghul to fall on the Japanese man after Darhk was defeated, the Arrow smiled at his friend as he spoke. "Of course it is, old friend. But I must ask you, after all of these years of serving the League so faithfully, and months of resisting my offer to depart it, what made you change your mind and finally decide to leave?"

Sarab was quiet for another 30 seconds before he replied, while making sure not to make eye contact with Oliver. "I actually only made this decision a few minutes ago. When I was guarding you and your family outside of the maternity ward, I saw your wife give birth. And I saw you, looking at your newborn daughter and your wife with pride and love in your eyes. And that made me remember…."

Oliver saw that there were unshed tears in Sarab's eyes now, but he didn't comment on them as the Asian man continued to speak while wiping the moisture from his eyes. "It made me remember what it was like to watch Tatsu give birth to Akio. I will always remember him, and I'm not sure the pain of losing him will ever go away fully… But watching a new life enter a world on the same day that so many people left it…it made me realize something. Even in the midst of death, there can be life. That there can be joy in the midst of suffering. And that maybe, even as I continue mourning my son, I can still find some happiness. But I know I will never find that happiness with the League. I know there is little chance that I can find happiness alone either, but…after I abandoned her all those years ago, I doubt Tatsu would have me back…"

Oliver shook his head and put a single hand on Sarab's shoulder. "You are wrong about that. You know as well as I do that Tatsu still lives in a hut not too far from Nanda Parbat. I spoke to her myself only a month ago. She still wants you to come back to her. She is angry that you left, and if you did go back to her, you would probably need to spend the rest of your life making that up to her. But her love for you outweighs her anger."

Sarab nodded. "Good. Than perhaps I'm not too late then. With your permission, I would like to go back to Nanda Parbat and see her again soon, to tell her that I will be leaving the League as soon as Darhk is defeated. After I've disposed of the traitor's body of course."

Oliver nodded seriously. "Of course. Also, when you do go to see Tatsu, and she gives you her permission, feel free to stay at her cabin a couple nights if you feel the snow is too deep, or the roads are in too bad a condition, or any other reasons you can think of that you might want to not go straight back to Nanda Parbat after simply talking to Tatsu…"

Oliver smirked and continued speaking. "She is still your wife, after all. And you haven't seen each other in years, so…"

Sarab allowed himself a small smile. "This is true. Thank you. And thank you for helping me to realize that Maseo may not be as dead as I thought he was. Who knows? Tatsu and he…Tatsu and I, may have another child someday. I know that another child could never replace the son I lost, but still…seeing you and your wife with your daughter, it made me think that I wouldn't mind the chance to be a father again. To try to do things right this time. Thank you for giving me that chance."

Oliver smiled as "Sarab" made his way into the hospital's basement to dispose of Nathan Falcon's body, and the Arrow couldn't help but think about how strange his life had become. Even now, despite the recent death he had caused, he was still relatively happy due to other recent events, such as the birth of his daughter and the return of "Maseo". Before the basement could close behind the Asian assassin, Oliver quickly replied to the slightly older man's words. "Anytime, old friend."

* * *

6 eventful months passed before Team Arrow encountered Damien Darhk again.

The first week after Natasha's birth saw a temporary restoration of peace to Gotham (thanks to a collaboration between Batman, the Flash, and a small squad of Assassins that Oliver sent to help the two heroes [help the Caped Crusader only accepted after things got bad enough in his city after several local crime bosses and ordinary citizens used the civil unrest caused by the Arkham breakouts to their advantage in various ways, ranging from looting to murder]. Meanwhile, Team Arrow watched over Starling City, waiting for a retaliation on Darhk's part for the dark wizard's recent defeats that didn't come, at least not for a long time. Furthermore, several members of the Queen family visited Starling General hospital regularly to check up on Isabel and Natasha (both of whom behaved relatively well during their two day stay at Starling General, although Isabel took advantage of Felicity's offer to smuggle in gourmet items from the brunet's favorite health food store several times before she and her baby were discharged from the hospital). Isabel, Oliver and Thea also regularly checked up on Selina Kyle (who the orderlies all considered a terror due to her frequent complaining about her inability to walk on her own at the moment, as well as her tendency to pick the pockets of all the hospital staff who entered her room, simply out of boredom) as a "personal favor to Bruce Wayne, a friend of the Queen family and Queen Consolidated", before Mr. Wayne himself flew in on his private jet after things had settled down in Gotham, and the dark haired CEO personally oversaw Miss Kyle's transport to Thomas Wayne General Hospital in Gotham, an action which caused Selina Kyle to actually smile for the first time in the last week as she joked with Bruce that "You just couldn't stay away from me more than a week at a time, could you, rich boy?"

The next few months also saw a man named Ray Palmer launch an unsuccessful bid to make a hostile takeover of Queen Consolidated. A bid that revealed that, despite the fact that Mr. Palmer was a successful inventor with over 100 patents to his name, the man's grasp of corporate law and PR was somewhat lacking. The perpetually awkward inventor was unable to keep up with Mr. Walter Steele or Isabel Rochev-Queen (the latter of whom had returned to work as soon as possible after hiring a suitable nanny [screened by Felicity Smoak] for Natasha and Connor) and changing her name to Isabel Rochev-Queen despite the fact that her and Oliver's recent marriage had never been officially completed, and the fact that the priest who had overseen the wedding had tragically passed away due to the wounds inflicted on him by HIVE agents.

Over that tumultuous month at QC, Isabel and Walter had talked circles around Ray Palmer, the latter of which was unable to sway the board of directors that he had a better business plan than Isabel, despite the fact that Ray had already made billions due to his inventions… all of which he had promptly sold the rights to after getting to the prototype stage, instead of bothering to market those products to the general public, or run a company, himself. However, even as it became clear that, despite Oliver's temporary absence from his family's company due to his short and uneventful, but relatively successful, stint as the mayor of Starling City, Ray Palmer had little chance of acquiring Queen Consolidated, the brilliant but awkward man remained a stubborn foe. For that entire month Mr. Palmer would not stop visiting QC's board, and Isabel herself, in one vain attempt after another to try to acquire QC using several expensive presentations utilizing some of the newer tech he created, all in order to try to sway someone into giving him control of the company.

Obviously, Isabel and Walter both found all of these extravagant takeover attempts on Mr. Palmer's part, which were finances by the man's wealth, which seemed to be as boundless as the man's determination to acquire Queen Consolidated, extremely annoying, and a distraction from the day to day activities of actually running a company. Therefore, the former business rivals set out to find out exactly why Mr. Palmer was so dead set on acquiring Queen Consolidated in the first place, and use that knowledge to make the billionaire inventor go away. This task actually proved to be easier than it sounded, however, as Mr. Palmer himself finally approached Isabel at the end of that month to tell her his reasons for trying to take over QC.

As it turned out, Mr. Palmer's fiancée had died the night that Slade's men had tried to take Iron Heights Prison, during the Mirakuru enhanced soldiers march to said penitentiary. This event, as well as the Undertaking that had occurred about a year before his fiancé's death, had led Ray Palmer to the conclusion that, despite the recent financial success that Queen Consolidated, and by extension, Starling City, had been experiencing lately due to the recent "partnership" between Oliver and Isabel, Ray feared that Starling would be doomed if it did not get a "better kind of hero" that could prevent events like Slade's short reign of terror or the Undertaking. Therefore, Ray Palmer had vowed to create just such a hero by building a suit using advanced technology and blueprints of his own invention. But he needed a proper Applied Sciences division, such as the one in Queen Consolidated's possession. However, Ray confessed to Isabel that he was having trouble wearing down the QC Board of Directors and out debating her or Walter Steele, despite his almost limitless wealth. Therefore, Ray Palmer proposed a deal with Mrs. Rochev-Queen.

The compromise Mr. Palmer suggested was simple. The Arrow and the Midnight Sentinel (Ray Palmer offhandedly remarked he had already discovered the "married" couple's secret identities, over the last month) could lend him as many resources from QC's applied science's division as it would take him to design his super suit and become a vigilante himself, or he would continue making every effort possible to take over Queen Consolidated until he had spent every last dollar that he had trying to do so. And, Ray pointed out with a cocky grin. "With my net worth, at the current rate I'm spending money trying to take over your company, while still taking in some money from my newer inventions that could take about…60 years. So maybe my grandchildren will be poor. Until then, I will be a constant thorn in your side. Or…you could take the deal, help me build my suit so that I can become a hero, become someone that could help you and your husband save lives in this city and avoid any further 'collateral damage' like Anna, and then I will leave your company alone forever."

After consulting with Oliver, the co-CEOs agreed to accept Ray Palmer's offer, on the condition that the two of them, as well as "certain members of Queen Consolidated's staff" (which really just meant Felicity Smoak) and members of the Star Labs team in Coast City, who Isabel admitted QC had collaborated with for "special projects" in the past, could supervise the construction of Ray's suit. In a shocking display of humility, Ray had accepted these concessions, and admitted that the Atom Suit he was trying to create was his most ambitious creation to date, and he needed all the help he could get to make it.

* * *

It turned out that, with Felicity and the Star Labs team (who had more free time on their hands since Batman, using a chemical formula he had created to slow down speedsters, which was superior to anything even the Star Labs team could make, had helped Team Flash defeat Zoom, who, despite Team Flash's efforts to save his life, died shortly thereafter in his special cell as a side effect of overusing a drug the villain had invented to boost his own powers) backing him up, it only took another month for Ray Palmer to finish his super suit so he could take his new alter ego, the Atom, to the streets of Starling City. This was a fortunate turn of events for Team Arrow, because they would soon need all the help they could get against the threats that would come their way in the coming months. Unfortunately (for Felicity, anyway), during the month Ray was creating the Atom suit, and consequently, spending a lot of time at Queen Consolidated, Felicity Smoak's mother, Donna, made a surprise visit to Starling City to catch up with her daughter. It was during this visit, when Donna was waiting in the lobby to greet Felicity after work one evening and take her daughter shopping, that a distracted Ray Palmer walked out of the elevator that had just brought him up from the basement and bumped into Donna Smoak. Literally. A few frenzied apologies on Donna's part for making Ray spill his coffee on what Donna described as "a very snazzy suit", an offer to buy Ray a coffee at a later time to make it up to him, and one coffee date (which Ray felt obligated to accept because Donna was the mother of one of his lab partners) later, and Ray Palmer and Donna Smoak hit it off.

Then started dating.

Then became boyfriend and girlfriend.

It was right around the time that Ray announced this turn of events in one of Queen Consolidated's labs that Felicity (whom Ray had long ago figured out was part of team Arrow, just as he had deduced that Barry Allen was the Flash after catching Barry using super speed in front of the Star Labs team when he thought no one else was looking) gently, but dramatically hit her forehead on a nearby table and loudly complained. "Of course you're dating my mother! How could it be otherwise?! It's not like I have enough superhero complications in my life, with, you know, being part of Team Arrow and dating the Flash! Oh no, now my own mother is dating the Johnny come lately vigilante in Starling City as well! Isn't that just perfect!?"

Ray had coughed nervously at Felicity's reaction, which he had made the day after the Atom suit's first successful test run on the streets of Starling City. The genius inventor had then turned to back towards Felicity as he spoke. "Okay. Clearly I did not think this through, and I underestimated how much this would affect you, Felicity. I guess I should have broken the news I was dating your mother a little more gently. I thought you would be happy for your mom and…I suppose it's taken me a little long to get back into the dating scene after my fiancée died but…I really like your mom, Felicity. She's not my usual type but…she's nice, and she's fun, and she helps keep me from getting stuck too much in my own head and…whatever, if this is too awkward for you…for me to be working with your team to get my Atom project fully off the ground while dating your mom…maybe I will have to consider breaking things of with Donna. I just don't know how I'm going to do that without hurting her feelings…"

Oliver, Isabel and every member of the Star Labs team (even Barry) had shot Felicity a look at that point, and the tech expert admitted to herself that maybe, just maybe, she was being a little selfish here before she spoke to Ray, who was now working diligently to fix the overheating problem his suit had manifested during his otherwise successful first test drive of the new technology, even as the inventors shoulders were slumped in a sad, defeated manner. The blonde tech expert sighed before she said. "No. Don't do that. My mom hasn't had a serious boyfriend in…well, a long time. And I know it must be serious, since she recently asked me to find her a job in town so she could move to Starling City. I don't want to ruin that for her. I guess I'll just have to get used to having yet another hero around. Besides, my mom moving here would mean that I will probably get to see her more often. And that's not a bad thing, right? Having a family member living close by? Right. Not a bad thing at all."

Ray turned back towards Felicity and smiled at that. "Thank you, Felicity. Don't worry. I really like your mom and I wouldn't do anything to hurt her…"

Felicity's uneasy smile turned to a poorly concealed glare. "You better not. I said I wouldn't mind you dating my mom, but if you break her heart, I promise you that I will make you suffer and make every penny you have disappear within 24 hours. And then you will find out why my enemies call me a bitch with Wi-Fi."

Ray gulped, then forced out a nervous laugh. A laugh that promptly ended when he noticed that nobody else was laughing with him and that the looks on the faces of everyone else in the room were stone cold serious. The dark haired superhero in-training gulped as he addressed everyone but Felicity. "She's not joking is she?"

Cisco actually smirked then and shook his head.

The Atom nodded. Then asked another question while looking right at Felicity. "And you could actually do that? Bankrupt a billionaire who uses some of the most secure encryption banking software in the world? Within 24 hours?"

Everyone else in the room simultaneously answered for Felicity. "Yep."

Isabel, who had gotten to watch Felicity in action as Overwatch several times when the brunette had still been pregnant added with a smirk. "And that's if she wasn't trying very hard. Otherwise she could probably make you broke in half the time."

Ray nodded nervously. "Great. I was…you know, just checking."

That actually earned a slight chuckle from Oliver. As did the news, which he heard from Felicity about a week later, that Ray had coincidentally, bought Donna Smoak a brand new car on the very same day that the inventor had promised Felicity he would treat her mom well.

* * *

In the sixth months since being born, Natasha continued to show signs of accelerated development, such as being able to crawl at three months old, and shortly thereafter, using toy blocks to spell out simple sentences to communicate her needs, instead of crying. The precocious child would use her blocks to spell out sentences, such as, "Hungry. Need milk now." "Change diaper now." Or "Tired. Crib now." These remarkable feats got attention from the Queen family, but (after Oliver and Isabel explained to Connor, Thea and Moira what Constantine had said about the newest Queen's origins) they all took these developments in stride and decided to tell no one about what little Natasha was capable of. A decision that would have been a lot easier to implement if it weren't for the development of Natasha's more…exotic abilities.

As far as Oliver and Isabel could tell, Natasha's abilities (which John Constantine had come to check up on a few times, but the British wizard had said that the baby didn't show signs of abilities dangerous enough to require his intervention…yet) included some sort of enhanced senses and/or "sixth sense", as well as telekinesis. Natasha's parents got wind of their daughter's first set of abilities after Isabel discovered (via use of a baby monitor) that her little girl would giggle for up to 2 minutes before one of her family members entered a room Natasha was occupying, but would cry uncontrollably for exactly 3 minutes straight before her nanny would enter the house…even on days when Natasha's nanny was late or early arriving to the Queen mansion. Natasha had also exhibited the ability to move solid objects with her mind, but for the most part, the youngest Queen only used her gift for benign purpose, such as bringing her bottle (full of her mother's milk) to her lips when she was hungry and said bottle was just out of reach, or to "reach" for toy blocks so that she could communicate her needs to her family members or her nanny by more efficient means than crying. It was this last use of her telekinetic abilities that got little Natasha in a small bit of trouble.

The fact was, Natasha had gotten rather bossy when it came to using her toy blocks to communicate what she wanted, and she had "trained" her family members to follow her commands, despite the fact that the baby's lungs and vocal chords had not yet developed enough for actual speech yet, using her toy blocks Natasha would only let up from controlling her family this way whenever her arms and brain got tired, the infant went to sleep, or when Natasha noticed the family members she was ordering around started to look tired. In any case, the Queens had gotten used to paying attention to the youngest Queen's expressions of her needs and wants using her toy blocks, and, after much deliberation, knowing that Natasha probably was too young to know to hide her abilities anyway, had told Natasha's nanny to "humor them" and obey any instructions she might see written in blocked letters in Natasha's play room from time to time. But Natasha's nanny, Rachel Thomas, thought the Queen family was joking about this request, and she continued to ignore Natasha's demands of her for almost a month before the gifted infant decided to take matters into her own little hands.

Therefore, one day, while Rachel was looking after Natasha again, Connor was at school and the other Queens were at their jobs, when the baby's nanny ignored Natasha's messages one time too many, Oliver and Isabel's offspring gathered up every bit of concentration she had to telekinetically throw a toy block at her nanny's head while Rachel had her back turned to Natasha. This action got Rachel's attention, and the nanny was still struggling to find out how one of her tiny charge's toys had managed to hit her head when she was promptly hit on the forehead by another block. Then another. Then another. Until Rachel Thomas' head had been hit by a grand total of half a dozen blocks at speeds low enough not to cause permanent injury, but fast enough to hurt quite a bit.

Rachel was reeling from this pain and nursing the bruise that was starting to form on her forehead, when the nanny was forced to bear witness to an event that caused her shock and fear rather than pain and confusion, as the six blocks that had hit the older woman over the head, as well as many others from across the room, all lifted off the ground and spelled a message right in front of her face that Rachel couldn't ignore. The blocks spelled out a simple message. "Stop ignoring me. Meanie." During this entire event, little Natasha had been giggling, but after her message had been spelled out to Rachel, the infant had stared right at her nanny with a serious look on her face that scared the living daylights out of her.

The nanny had then promptly run out of the Queen mansion screaming.

Barely thirty minutes later, after a frantic call to Isabel, telling Natasha's mother what had happened before Isabel had quite firmly insisted that Rachel had brought what happened on herself by ignoring the instructions she had been given concerning taking care of Natasha, then reminding the nanny of the non-disclosure and non-abandonment clauses of her contract that she would be violating if she did not return to the Queen mansion to take care of Natasha immediately while never speaking a word about Natasha's abilities to anyone outside of the infant's immediate family, Rachel had returned to the Queen mansion and immediately begun to clean up the mess that Natasha had left in the form of blocks scattered all over her playroom. The nanny had then looked right at Natasha and (feeling very foolish as she did so) apologized to the infant for ignoring her demands and promising to be more attentive to Natasha's wants from then on. A still vindictive Natasha had then promptly ran Rachel ragged for the rest of the day with her demands. But after that day, Natasha had been less demanding of Rachel, and stopped crying right before the nanny's visits.

In the meantime, Team Arrow had more pressing concerns to deal with than an admittedly very special, unusually precocious infant. Although Oliver and Isabel made every effort to spend as much time as possible with both Connor and Natasha, Oliver's mayoral (as Moira was taking a little longer to recover than expected, but was otherwise just fine) and League duties, Isabel's job running Queen Consolidated mostly by herself (after her maternity leave had ended), and Team Arrow duties kept the two parents busy far more often than either of them liked, and Natasha and Connor's nanny, as well as the other members of the Queen family (including Connor himself, who helped perform simple tasks such as fetching baby bottles and clean diapers) often had to take care of the two children when their parents were away.

"Away" sometimes meant fulfilling the duties that came with their civilian jobs. But all too often, Oliver and Isabel were "away" stopping mercenaries, assassins and garden variety thugs, as well as more powerful threats, such as the immortal Vandal Savage, from wreaking havoc in Starling and/or Coast City with the help of Team Flash and the other members of team Arrow.

Sadly, stopping Vandal Savage had meant the loss of a teammate and several of team Arrow's allies, as a former Timemaster named Rip Hunter had recruited Sara Lance and Ray Palmer, as well new friends of team Arrow, like Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and the two individuals who currently make up the hero known as Firestorm, to join him on a mission to stop Vandal Savage from taking over the world. Several other members of Teams Arrow and Flash had offered to help as well, but Rip had insisted that it was necessary for the timeline for these other heroes to stay in the present. Rip then went on to say that Isabel's place in the timeline was particularly important, since the Midnight Sentinel and another woman who called herself Destiny were the leaders of the resistance against Vandal Savage in the future. As such, Isabel and this other mysterious woman would be the only hope for the future if Rip Hunter's group failed.

Both the Canary and the Atom had sought advice from their family and friends concerning whether they should go, and Quentin Lance, as well as all of the members of team Arrow had reluctantly agreed Rip's mission seemed like a necessary one. Donna Smoak (who had been told that Ray was merely going on a business trip in a place without phone or internet access) and Nyssa had felt differently about their respective partners leaving them behind for a while, but the two women reacted quite differently to the news that their loved ones were going away. Donna had cried, made Ray promise to contact her as soon as he could, and made the billionaire philanthropist swear to come back safely. Nyssa, on the other hand, had not objected at to her beloved leaving the present to save the world. Instead, she had simply followed the Canary to her meeting with Rip Hunter, put a sword to the former Timemaster's throat and declared that the time traveler had two choices, leave Sara in the present, or let Nyssa come with her beloved and the rest of the crew Rip had gathered together to save the world. Rip had chosen the latter option, and the two former assassins had left the present together.

Thankfully, Sara, Nyssa, and Team Arrow's missing allies, other than Hawkman, who had been killed by Savage, had come back a month later (from Team Arrow's perspective) reporting they had successfully killed Savage and saved the future, although it had taken them longer than expected to do so. Sara had explained that it had taken them three years (from their perspective) to kill Savage, then stop the Timemasters from undoing everything they had accomplished, and that Hawkgirl, Nyssa, Ray and herself had spent an additional two years stuck in the 1960's due to a navigational error and an attack from a bounty hunter named Cronos, who Sara refused to talk about further, The Canary also elaborated that she and Nyssa had spent time with each other on Nanda Parbat during that time, while Ray and Kendra/Hawkgirl had tried to blend in, the Atom obsessively tried to find a way to return to Donna in the early 21st century, and Kendra mourned the death of her 4 millennia old reincarnating lover. Eventually, however, they had rejoined the rest of the group and succeeded in their mission before returning home to the present. The only wrinkle was that a noticeably older looking Ray had been forced to come clean about his secret identity and where he had been for the past "month" to Donna Smoak, who had not been happy about the Atom keeping secrets from her. But Felicity's bubbly mother eventually forgave her boyfriend, and, over the next few months started getting used to the trials and tribulations of dating a superhero.

* * *

Another threat to Team Arrow had been far smaller than HIVE and less menacing that Vandal Savage, but had still caused an impact of a more personal nature. About 4 months after the attack at Oliver and Isabel's second wedding, a meta-human with the unusual ability to produce card shaped blades from his arms and throw them at lethal speeds attacked Team Arrow one night while they were all training in their Arrow cave. This attack, by itself, was not much of a problem, since the combined forces of the Arrow, Athena, Cobalt, the Canary, the Midnight Sentinel, Red Arrow, Spartan, and Nyssa had easily been able to defeat the lone meta-human with a quick barrage of tranq darts, blunted arrows, and several blows to the would-be assassins head. The problem was that, when interrogated after his defeat, the assassin claimed that he had been hired by Damien Darhk to kill the Arrow at the former Argus base…and that the dark magician mentioned getting the location of the new Arrow Cave from someone with "insider knowledge" of Team Arrow and its base of operations. However, before he was turned over to (now) Police Chief Lance, the mercenary claimed (and Isabel's superior senses confirmed he was telling the truth) he had no knowledge of who Team Arrow's traitor was.

Of course, everyone on the team immediately suspected that Helena Bertinelli, a former member of the team who had completely fallen of the grid shortly after being exiled from both Team Arrow and Starling city due to her unstable mental state and violent behavior, was the traitor. Since most members of Team Arrow immediately came to the conclusion that the Huntress was the traitor, they vowed to find the former mafia princess and put her behind bars before she could leak any more info to Darhk, but otherwise, didn't put much thought into the identity of Team Arrow's traitor. Oliver and Felicity, on the other hand, despite their desire to believe that none of Team Arrow's present members or allies was a traitor, decided that they needed to be sure. So, without either one telling the other, the Arrow and Overwatch did thorough background checks on every member of Team Arrow (although, due to the high degree of trust they had for certain individuals, Felicity didn't investigate Oliver or Diggle, and Oliver didn't investigate Isabel or Thea). Oliver, for his part, didn't find anything in any of his present teammates records or messages they had sent over the past ten years that indicated that any of them were the traitor. Ditto for Felicity's search. However, the blonde tech expert did find another interesting piece of information about one of her teammates. Unfortunately, shortly after uncovering this particular truth about a member of team Arrow, Felicity immediately wished she hadn't.

It happened when Felicity was running a basic (for her) computer program that scanned all the e-mails that any of the members of Team Arrow had sent or received over the last ten years (because the tech expert thought, 'Might as well be really thorough'), notifying Felicity of any emails that contained certain key words (like the name "Queen") that met various other criteria. Sure enough, the computer program found almost a hundred e-mails, divided up among all of the members of Team Arrow, that fit the search criteria, but after browsing through them, Felicity found that none of the flagged messages contained anything of interest.

Well, almost none of them. There a few email chains, 3, to be exact, that caught Felicity's eye for all the wrong reasons. These messages were correspondences between a younger Isabel and the late Robert Queen. This, by itself, wasn't very unusual. Felicity had done a brief background check on Isabel while Oliver had been in his second (self-imposed) exile to Lian Yu, and the tech wizard knew Isabel had used to work for Queen Consolidated. Felicity found the contents of these particular e-mails on the other hand, to be both surprising and disturbing (not the least because they confirmed that Felicity really should have done a more thorough background check on Isabel the first time). Although the messages that the late Robert Queen and his former intern had sent each other years ago were not overly graphic or detailed, their contents made one fact inescapably clear. Before Isabel had left Queen Consolidated, she and Robert Queen had been having an affair. A conclusion that was only reinforced by both parties' lame attempts to hide evidence of their dealings by sending each other's messages to their respective trash folders, without actually bothering to finish deleting them later.

After finding this awkward truth about Isabel's past out, Felicity had briefly considered telling Oliver what she had found out about his wife, but quickly decided against it. After all, Oliver was already (in every way that mattered) married to Isabel, and he had a child with her. In addition, since turning on Deathstroke, Isabel had saved the entire Queen family, and several members of Team Arrow, on multiple occasions, even as the brunette had come to love Oliver's step-son like her own and integrated herself fully into both the Queen family and Team Arrow, going as far as to befriend Sara and Laurel, two of Oliver's exes. And, perhaps most importantly, over the last several months, Isabel had also become one of Felicity's close friends. A close enough friend for Felicity to see firsthand that, whatever Isabel had done or been in the past, the Midnight Sentinel was a good person now. A hero, in fact, that would do whatever it took to protect both Starling City and her loved ones. Therefore, in the interest of keeping the peace, not disturbing the happiness that Isabel's presence brought the Queen home, and not betraying someone who she had once been bitter enemies with, but that Felicity now considered a true friend, Team Arrow's tech expert decided not to tell anyone about what she had found, and even permanently deleted all of the e-mails in question.

Unfortunately, despite Felicity's vast experience in the area of deception, she was still really bad at lying to her friends, and an increase in Felicity's rambling speech patterns the next day soon gave away to every member of Team Arrow that Felicity was hiding something. But only one of them knew what that something was. That person chose to stay behind after Team Arrow training the very next day, in order to talk to the tech expert about her recent unfortunate discovery.

Oliver had plopped into a nearby seat next to Felicity in front of the Arrow Cave's command center, and, after taking a brief glimpse at the computer monitor, which revealed that Felicity was currently trying to track Helena, the archer turned to his blonde friend. "So…I'm just going to come right and say it. I know that you've been investigating the backgrounds of current members of team Arrow to see if they are the traitor. I know this because I have been doing the same thing. And because, after I memorized your current user name and password while watching you type it in front of me a hundred times, I was easily able to hack your PC making use of some training I picked up from Argus, which is a story for later, and installed a program that would allow me to track your PC's activities over the last 48 hours."

Felicity had just hung her mouth open for several second before turning back to her computer monitor with a blank look on her face. "I really don't know whether I should be angry with you for invading my privacy or impressed with your hidden tech skills right now. I think I will lean towards the latter though, seeing as I've invaded everyone else's privacy over the last 48 hours."

Oliver shrugged, although Felicity couldn't see the action. "Feel free to feel whatever you want. If it makes you feel better, I freely admit my meager tech skills are not as impressive as yours. You just made it easy for me. The good news is, as I expected, you, and every current member of Team Arrow is clean. If someone has betrayed us to HIVE, it is definitely Helena."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. Did you really think I, or anyone else in Team Arrow, would have betrayed you or this team after all the time we've worked together and been friends?"

Oliver shook his head. "No. But like you, I had to be sure. That's why I put that program, which I will erase right after we have this talk, to track your movements through cyberspace."

The emerald archer rubbed his index finger and thumb together on one of his hands before he added. "Which is why I know about a certain sensitive piece of Intel that you accidentally stumbled over last night concerning some…compromising e-mails Isabel sent years ago. I'm guessing those emails have something to do with why your speech was more nervous than usual today, and the reason you haven't been able to look either me or Isabel in the eye all day."

Felicity put her head in her hands and spoke. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I know I should have told you, but…"

Oliver almost chuckled at his friend getting worked up over withholding knowledge that he already possessed, although the look in his eyes was still deadly serious. "I already knew, Felicity."

The tech expert turned to Oliver then, revealing that she had a look on her face that indicated that she was both hopeful and confused at the same time. "You did?"

The archer nodded again. "Yeah. Isabel told me many months ago about that affair. She told me near the beginning of my relationship with her." The Arrow didn't really feel guilty for telling Felicity a half-truth here. After all, Isabel had told him about her previous affair with his father, after he had already heard that truth from Moira Queen previously, so what he was telling Felicity now wasn't a lie, per se. It just wasn't the whole truth.

The emerald archer sighed again as he added. "I won't lie, that revelation made things rough between Isabel and for a while, but…she and I worked through it after her actions showed me that she was, that she is, a better person than she used to be. And Isabel is a good person now, Felicity. I know you and her have become pretty good friends lately and I don't want this to taint your perception of…"

Felicity swiftly interrupted the Arrow with her own words. "I know that, Oliver. I know that Isabel is a better person now. Hell, just watching the changes she has gone through over the last year or so, with the way she acts around you and Connor, the way she treats her subordinates at Queen Consolidated like people now, risking herself to protect you and this city as the Midnight Sentinel, and especially the way she interacts with me…it's clear that your wife has grown so much as a person since you and I first met her. I already know that Isabel is a good person. A good friend. A good friend that I didn't think it was right for me to sit in judgment on considering that I, and everyone else on this team has a somewhat checkered past. And that is one of the reasons I wasn't going to tell you what I found out. But it looks like I was hiding…that knowledge from you for no reason."

Oliver nodded and said. "Pretty much. I…ummm. I'll let you get back to searching for Helena, and trying to find out where Damien Darhk and the HIVE agents we haven't secured yet disappeared to. And I'll tell the others, who were wondering why you were so acting…odd, that you are fine. That you were just nervous because you hadn't found Helena yet."

Felicity winced. "Was it that obvious I was hiding something?"

The Arrow half smirked as he replied. "Oh yeah."

The emerald archer quickly added with a frown on his face. "And by the way, we never had this conversation, and I would appreciate if you wouldn't mention the subject of this discussion to anyone else, ever. Even me. Talking about what Isabel and…well, what he did in the past, it's just sort of…"

"Awkward, yeah. I get it. Just like how I don't like to talk about my father, the criminal who up and left me and my mom when I was a little girl…"

The bespectacled tech expert flinched. "Except that I just mentioned him now. Can we just add that to the list of things that you and I will never talk about again?"

A smirk returned to Oliver's face as he replied. "Sure. What are friends for?"

The Arrow started to walk out of the command center, and then the Arrow cave, but he stopped just before the exit to the room before turning towards Felicity and adding. "You're a good friend, Felicity. Good luck with your searches, but try not to stay up too late."

 **Author's note will be at the end of the next chapter!**


	7. Tying Up Loose Ends Part 2

Finally, six months after Darhk's wedding crash, Team Arrow finally got a lead on the dark wizard's location. A lead they obtained in a most unusual manner.

An expert hacker calling himself "The Calculator", somehow managed to track down the computer that "Overwatch" used to watch out for the other members of Team Arrow while they were in the field, bashed his way through Felicity's firewalls, and actually gloated about his victory over the blonde tech expert while he began to download copies of all the files on the Arrow Cave's computer, and condescendingly told Overwatch via the text on her monitor that "It's not personal, just business." The mysterious hacker also added that he was being paid handsomely for his services, which included "Uncovering the weaknesses of every single member of Team Arrow."

However, midway through the process of the Calculator hacking the dossiers of every member of team Arrow, during which time Felicity, who was the only person in the Arrow Cave at the time, frantically tried to access the server room that the calculator had remotely locked, the mysterious hacker stopped downloading files. Team Arrow's tech expert was so busy trying to get into the server room, she did not notice that the Calculator had stopped downloading files from the Arrow computer right after he had downloaded Felicity's own "Overwatch" personnel file. Nor did she notice until several minutes later, after the doors to the server room opened of their own accord but, thankfully, before the tech expert started destroying servers, that the Calculator had sent her a message saying that he had decided to go back on his contract to his current employers….Damien Darhk and HIVE, and destroy all of the files he had downloaded from the Arrow computer.

The Calculator ended his digital intrusion into Team Arrow computers by leaving two messages. The first was a set of geographical coordinates in Central America, which the rival hacker had labeled. "Location of Damien Darhk's current super-secret lair that he doesn't think I know about. And Mister Bane's pale Demon-spawn princess."

The second message the calculator sent simply said. "Got to run. They will be looking for me after what I do next. Good luck."

After all traces of the Calculator's intrusion into Team Arrow's hard drive had vanished, Felicity told the other members of the Team about the Calculator's successful breach of the Arrow Cave's computer systems…as well as the messages that "The Calculator" had sent Overwatch before vacating the Arrow computer without leaving a single digital trace.

The other members of Team Arrow quickly agreed that the coordinates where probably a trap, but Felicity wasn't so sure because, as the tech wizard pointed out, the Calculator had stopped snooping through the Arrow Caves Systems before uploading even 10% of the team's files, and didn't leave a single piece of malware. Therefore, Felicity concluded that the hacker may have seen something in Team Arrow's files on HIVE that made him reconsider siding with that organization. Isabel, who had once been a villainess working for Slade before deciding to take a lighter path, was the only one that believed that Felicity's theory could be correct. However, Oliver agreed that, despite its dubious source, this was the first lead on Darhk's location that the team had received in six months, so it at least bared some checking out.

No member of Team Arrow, or indeed, anyone outside of HIVE, would ever know the identity of the Calculator, or what had made the notorious hacker, who was on several national and international agencies most wanted lists, turn against his employers. Most people would never know that the man whose body was found hanging in his basement, an apparent suicide, the next morning in a small Oregon town, was Felicity Smoak's long lost father as well as the hacker known as the Calculator. A man who had stolen billions of dollars from banks and governments alike, and anonymously sent his ex-wife enough money that his daughter could go to Space Camp. A man who had uncovered and sold government secrets to the highest bidder…while making sure that his "little Fe" would never have to pay for college or university as she worked her way up to a Master's Degree in Computer Science at MIT, and insuring that his daughter would never be directly implicated in her and her college boyfriend's short "hacktivism" stage.

Fewer still would know that, after discovering the identity of Team Arrow's Overwatch, Noah Cuttler, the Calculator, had refused to help HIVE in its efforts to destroy his daughter and her team. In addition, Noah had given Felicity Darhk's current location, destroyed all the records he had downloaded from the Arrow computer, then shut down HIVE's computer network with a particularly nasty virus. For these "crimes", the Calculator was swiftly killed by some of Darhk's remaining ghosts, an act which brought an end to the digital career of one of the most despised and feared hackers in the world…all as the result of one last good deed.

But team Arrow would never know this story, as Felicity didn't even know what name her father had been going by since he had walked out on her and her mom years ago. Even so, Oliver contacted Bane (a process that took longer than usual with all of HIVE's computers down), Team Arrow's recently acquired mole in Darhk's organization, who had informed Oliver that Darhk had become reclusive since his last defeat at Oliver's hand, and that the warlock been keeping his present location from most of his followers , including Bane, lately. As the Arrow strived to get in touch with the former Assassin, who had been informing Team Arrow that Darhk's reclusiveness, and lack of orders for his underlings over the last six months, had lost the wizard many followers, and that HIVE was now a shell of its former self, the Arrow couldn't help but think about his first (and hopefully, his last) battle with the Venom-enhanced, muscled behemoth…

* * *

….6 months ago…

 _The battle between the Demon and his predecessor's former enforcer began in earnest after their initial "negotiations", such as they were, failed, and the Arrow fired three of his remaining arrows, one blunted arrow, and two tranq arrows, at Bane. The hero noted that his opponent was much faster than his muscular appearance would indicate as Talia's old lover managed to dodge the two tranq arrows, while managing to ignore the blunted arrow that hit the former assassin in the forehead. Oliver, for his part, was only partly able to dodge Bane's attack, as the larger man's fist managed to graze the side of the Arrow's head before the hero could roll away towards the other side of the small room and into a nearby hallway._

 _Bane laughed as Oliver, who was still struggling to get his breath back after the near fatal strangulation that Darhk had given him, and the villain spoke. "And here I was thinking you might actually be as much of a challenge for me as the Bat. I can see now that you are nothing like him and that you are too weak to defeat…"_

 _The Arrow cut of Bane by quickly drawing and firing an arrow that the latter party was barely able to dodge only seconds before it exploded several yards behind Bane in the hallway opposite the one the Arrow currently stood in. Although the nearby blast, and it's debris, some of which left several small cuts on Bane's arms and legs, the former assassins eyes were wide as he looked back at the Arrow with a new respect in his eyes. "Or perhaps I was wrong. You are stronger than the Bat. He was never willing to do what is necessary, as you are. You are indeed, worthy to fight me, Oliver Queen. I will remember you in my prayers to the League's god of death, so you may dwell with contentment in the shadowlands of your order…After I have killed you, of course."_

 _Oliver grimaced. "I told you, we don't have to fight! If you would just listen…"_

 _But Bane had already leapt upward as high as the ceiling of the room would allow, and Oliver was forced to dodge the behemoth's downward strike, which shattered the ground which the Arrow had occupied moments ago. The Arrow responded in kind by quickly firing his two remaining tranq arrows, one of which Bane dodged, while the other was harmlessly absorbed by the former Assassins League's armor. Bane continued to chase the Arrow, who was now, ironically, arrowless, through the halls of the compound for almost 15 seconds after that._

 _With few options remaining to him as Bane slowly but surely got closer and closer to the retreating Arrow, the Arrow opted for a surprise attack, as the hero quickly turned around and threw three flechettes right at Bane's head…but the villain simply raised his arm and absorbed the three small projectiles right into his limb. Bane, feeling no pain because of the Venom in his system, and ignoring the blood leaking out of his arm continued his advance before throwing Oliver into a nearby wall._

 _The Arrow quickly recovered, and stood up to face Bane, who was now casually walking towards the hero. Oliver the quickly executed a volley of kicks and punches all over Bane's body, hitting a nerve cluster with each blow, any one of which would have incapacitated or killed a normal man. Unfortunately, Bane was far from a normal man, and the enhanced villain barely felt the blows that the emerald archer landed._

 _Finally, the fight reached its inevitable conclusion, as Bane pushed Oliver into the same wall he had thrown the Arrow onto just moment ago. Bane then grabbed Oliver by the throat and lifted the smaller man with one hand into until Oliver's gray eyes were level with Bane's darker ones as the villain spoke, even as the archer struggled in vain to get free. "You can cease struggling now, Oliver Queen. It is pointless. I have won. But you fought well, nearly had me a few times, actually, and this is a good death. One great warrior killing another after an epic struggle. There is no shame in this."_

 _Seeing that his opponent was struggling to speak, Bane lessened his grip on the Arrow's throat slightly. "You may speak. If you have any last words, you will, of course, be allowed to say them now."_

 _Oliver's face wore an expression that was half way between a smirk and a grimace now. "I do have some words, actually. But they aren't mine…"_

 _The Arrow then pressed the button on his comm-link which allowed the hero to play back pre-recorded messages…like Damien Darhk's gloating speech, which the archer had stealthily recorded just minutes ago, concerning how the warlock had killed Talia, then convinced Bane, using the former Demon's own lie against him, that Selina Kyle had killed Bane's lover instead, and that he would give the large assassin the chance to "avenge" his old love if he would defect to HIVE._

 _After Bane heard Darhk's admission, in the wizard's own words, that he had killed Talia instead of Catwoman, the former assassin quickly dropped the Arrow to the ground as he spoke with a faraway look in his eyes. "No. It can't be. The old Demon said himself that…But he never did approve of me and Talia together. Thought I wasn't good enough for his daughter. Called my beloved insolent for refusing to disavow me as her lover. He…He would have sent her on a suicide mission, then lied about it, just to save face, wouldn't he? Yes. He must have. Darhk had no reason to lie if he thought he was about to kill you."_

 _The Arrow, who had long since stood up, approached his former opponent cautiously. "Bane? I don't know what else to call you…."_

 _The larger man snapped out of his dazed state while turning back towards the Arrow. "Bane is fine. I never had a first name, as far as I know. They never called me by it in the prison I grew up in, anyway. And I know the last name I was given, but after my father left me to rot in a hellhole for crimes he committed…I have no wish to take on the sir-name of my father. The wretch does not deserve that honor from me."_

 _Before Oliver could open his mouth again, Bane turned towards the Arrow and spoke. "Thank you for opening my eyes in this matter, Arrow. Darhk killed my beloved and played me for a fool, and he will pay for both crimes with his life. But I cannot secure vengeance on my own. I have a few followers in HIVE who are loyal to me above all others, but I will need the League, and perhaps your Team Arrow, to help me to defeat the rest of Darhk's organization so that I can kill that duplicitous snake with my bare hands. In return, I swear that I will never try to harm you, nor your friends, family, or loved ones, ever again. Do we have an agreement, Oliver Queen?"_

 _Oliver sighed. "I would, of course, welcome you as an ally in my struggle against HIVE, but I actually promised one of my friends I would let him kill Darhk because…"_

 _Bane cut Oliver off. "No. I want to kill Darhk myself! But perhaps…a compromise is in order. I will attempt to kill Darhk, but if I fail, your associate can kill him instead. Do we have an agreement?"_

 _Oliver sighed, the nodded as he shook Bane's outstretched hand. "Yes. I will agree to those terms."_

 _The dark clad man nodded, then sighed as he withdrew his hand. "Also, I'm afraid I must apologize for attempting to kill you due to being…misled by Darhk. Do you require medical attention?"_

 _Taking mental stock of the damage Bane had inflected to his body, even as the Arrow's adrenaline wore off and pain came flooding into the archer's system, Oliver noted that he had what felt like bruises forming all over his body, 2 cracked ribs, and a shortness of breath that the emerald archer guessed came from one of his lungs, which felt like it was on fire, and was probably punctured, by the fluid he felt building up in his chest. Under normal circumstances, the Arrow would have been afraid that this last wound might kill him…but the Arrow had come prepared. Thanks to the vision that his unborn daughter had sent him from Isabel's wound will the archer and Constantine had been saving Isabel and her baby, Oliver had known he would be badly injured, to the point of being near death, during this fight with Bane. Therefore, Oliver just smiled grimly at Bane while he revealed something the Arrow had hidden in a satchel under his suit while visiting the Arrow Cave before this mission…a small vial of water from the Lazarus Pitt, a souvenir Oliver had taken from Nanda Parbat. The Arrow drunk down the contents of the vial in one gulp, then looked at Bane with a smirk on his face as he felt his wounds rapidly healing inside of himself. "No. I came prepared. What's next?"_

 _Bane pulled a larger satchel of his own from underneath his armor, and drew out a small cloak, which he handed to Oliver as he spoke. "Now, you retrieve Selina Kyle, who I trust you remember where she is being held…"_

 _Bane didn't wait for an answer before he continued talking as he walked away from the Arrow. "And cover her with this, before seeing to her wounds and getting her back to Gotham. I will formally apologize to the Bat for allowing his…friend to come to harm myself. I will contact you soon, and let you know how you can contact me so we can discuss any further terms for our alliance. By the way, I saw what Darhk did at your wedding. Many of your guests were killed. My condolences. But rest assured, you and I will both have our revenge on that warlock very soon. Oh, and it was Falcon who betrayed your identity to Darhk. Thought you should know."_

* * *

Sometime later…

Oliver thought about Bane's words as he and the rest of Team Arrow (sans Felicity), as well as Nyssa, were flying to Darhk's current base of operations, which was deep in a jungle, several hours after the Calculator had given away the dark wizard's current location, using the military-style "Arrow jet" which Queen Consolidated had unknowingly purchased for Team Arrow shortly after Oliver had resurrected Isabel at Nanda Parbat. Oliver sighed as he looked at a pacing Diggle, who had known about Oliver's deal with Bane for months, and still wasn't happy about. However, Oliver knew he could do nothing about Spartan's current displeasure, and everyone on the team knew how important it was to have Bane and his men as an ally instead of enemy right now. Like it or not, Oliver's deal with Bane had been necessary, and its terms had to be honored. However, there was something else weighting on Oliver's mind. Something he knew that he needed to tell John Diggle now. That he should have told him almost three years ago, in fact.

After successfully contacting Bane a couple hours ago, Bane had confirmed that there was, indeed, an old HIVE base near at the coordinates the Calculator had sent Felicity, and that all of HIVE's satellite networks and security systems, as well as their computer network, were down at the moment. After Oliver and Bane had agreed that they would have no better opportunity to take down Darhk, the current Ra's al Ghul and a former member of the organization the former now ran had put together a strategy to finally kill the Warlock, then started deploying all of their forces to Darhk's base, with Oliver bringing his team to the jungle base while Sarab brought every assassin on Nanda Parbat to the same location while telling the current Ra's al Ghul's underlings about the plan that their master and Bane had come up with to destroy Damien Darhk. Bane and his forces were already in the jungle outside of Damien's base, waiting for reinforcements.

Oliver's muscles were tense as he thought about the upcoming battle, as well as the long overdue discussion he knew he would need to have with Spartan before the mission, ran over and over in the Arrow's mind. Thankfully, his wife/fiancée spotted Oliver's obvious tension, and began to massage her husband's shoulders. The Midnight Sentinel and the Arrow smiled simultaneously as the latter visibly relaxed and Isabel continued her massage as she spoke. "Relax, Oliver. We still have more than an hour before we get to Darhk's base. You should be using this time to rest, not working yourself over how things could go wrong."

Oliver's frown returned. "I know. But this is such a big mission. I'm just worried that…"

Isabel smirked. "This big mission will be like the last one, to Nanda Parbat?"

Seeing the look on Oliver's face, Isabel's smirk widened. "I know how your mind operates, Oliver. But this isn't like last time. At Nanda Parbat we were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, and the assassins were organized. Darhk's organization is dying and afraid, due to the man's neglect and paranoia. If everything Bane said is true, our forces combined with his will vastly outnumber the HIVE soldiers Darhk has surrounded himself with. We have the advantage this time, Oliver. We are going to win this thing, and everyone on our team is going to make it back home."

Oliver's smile returned even as Isabel's ministrations ended. "I love you, you know that?!"

A false thoughtful look appeared on Isabel's face as she put her right hand under her chin and whispered. "Well, let me think. I believe you told me several times this morning before work, while you were quite thoroughly demonstrating your feelings for me in the bedroom. So yes, you did tell me that. But a woman always likes to be reminded of these things…"

Isabel then drew Oliver in for a deep kiss that lasted almost 30 seconds, while the other members of Team Arrow discreetly looked away from the semi-married couple, even as the two couples on the jet simultaneously smirked as they remembered some of the similar activities they had been engaged in shortly before this mission started. After the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel came up for air, Isabel whispered in Oliver's ear. "And in case you couldn't tell, that was code for 'I love you, too.'"

The brunette, who was seated right next to her blonde husband during the entire flight, leaned her head against Oliver's chest as the jet continued its journey to Darhk's base, while Oliver absentmindedly thought that he really needed to use his trust fund to equip the Queen jet with a bedroom for times when he and Isabel went on business trips together, so that he and his wife could have privacy during moments like this.

* * *

…sometime later…

After Lyla landed the Arrow jet as close to Darhk's base as she dared, Team Arrow began to exit the aircraft in order to form up with the other two groups in order to attack the dark wizard, but Oliver pulled John Diggle aside to talk to him first about the one time he had met Andy Diggle In Moscow years ago…just before John's brother had helped Oliver and the Bratva stop HIVE from killing millions of people. The Arrow also told Spartan that he suspected that this was the reason that HIVE had hired Deadshot to kill him. Andy Diggle had died a hero.

As Oliver expected, Diggle was not particularly pleased with Oliver for withholding this information from him for so long, but the revelation had the desired effect, and by the time Spartan exited the Arrow jet, the hero was pissed off and ready to go to war against Darhk. Unfortunately, that war never came, as Darhk's forces proved they only had one more battle left in them. And not much of one, at that.

It was all very anticlimactic really. After Bane and Oliver's forces moved into position, they quickly launched their attack, which Isabel and Oliver led from the front while Bane snuck his forces inside the back entrance to the base. This attack caught HIVE completely off balance, since the evil organization no longer had any communications networks or security systems to speak of.

The battle lasted only ten minutes, and it only had a few notable moments.

The first notable occurrence of the battle was when a particularly brazen HIVE agent tried to attack Isabel, who had been deflecting bullets away from Oliver and the rest of team Arrow while easily tanking the few projectiles that managed to hit her, thanks to her healing factor and League armor. However, before Darhk's henchman could fire the missile launch he was aiming at the Midnight Sentinel, he found himself on his knees and bleeding to death as blood poured out of his throat due to an emerald arrow which had hit that spot a moment ago.

Unfortunately, Oliver's focus on his wife's attacker left him open to attack from another archer, as a black clad woman launched three bolts from her crossbow at Oliver Queen. Thankfully, while she was deflecting a few bullets away from Spartan, the Midnight Sentinel managed to deflect two of the projectiles aimed at her husband, while the third was stopped by the Arrow's League armor. Therefore, other than knocking him to the floor (well, almost, since Isabel had been able to catch Oliver before he actually hit the ground) and rendering him unconscious, the Arrow was unharmed.

However, by her actions, the woman with the crossbow had earned the ire of every member of Team Arrow. A grudge which only increased in intensity when the Midnight Sentinel spotted the identity of her husband's attacker from across that battlefield and scowled. "Helena. That bitch!"

After Isabel revealed the identity of Oliver's attacker, everyone else on team Arrow wanted to drop everything else and go after Helena together, while letting the League handle the rest of Darhk's forces but the Midnight Sentinel shook her head. "No. the Arrow is my husband, and this is my fight. Thea, see if you can wake your brother up. I can sense he isn't badly injured, and he won't want to miss us winning the battle. The rest of you, finish this fight!"

The Midnight Sentinel started walking toward Helena then, and, after receiving a nod from Spartan that they should do as Isabel said, Athena started waking the Arrow up as the other team members, including Cobalt, who now possessed improved armor and gauntlet upgrades that shot tranq darts at her opponents, continued fighting, knocking dozens of Ghosts unconscious while Bane's men and the assassins just straight up killed the rest of Darhk's men that team Arrow left for them. It turned out that Assassins were not so good at incapacitating Ghosts without killing them, as Oliver had told them to do. In the meantime, the Midnight Sentinel fought through half a dozen Ghosts, tranqing five of them and reluctantly killing the other one, who came close to decapitating her, before she finally caught sight of Helena again and spat out with a loud voice. "Huntress! You tried to kill me, betrayed team Arrow to HIVE, and then tried to murder my husband! I would call you a rat, but most rats are smart enough not to jump on a sinking ship like Darhk's organization, so I won't go there. But I am going to enjoy killing you, bitch!"

Helena smirked. "You will be doing no such thing! I'm going to stick a crossbow bolt in your heart and cut your head off. That will teach Oliver to choose you over me! And by the way, the name isn't Huntress anymore, it's…"

Isabel glared at her opponent. "Don't care. Less talking, more fighting. Let's finish this!"

It was over in less than 30 seconds.

Huntress quickly loaded and fired all of her remaining bolts into her crossbow and fired them all at the Midnight Sentinel one by one. But Isabel was able to deflect all but one bolt, which only grazed the right side of the brunette face, leaving a tear in the heroine's blue mask and a small wound that healed away in less than a second. Then, while Helena was dropping her crossbow and reaching for the sword on her back, Isabel quickly unloaded her last tranq dart into the villainess' neck…right through a hole in the her armor.

The Midnight Sentinel, sword in hand, sighed as she walked towards Helena's still body on the ground while speaking. "Pathetic. I've never had to kill a former pupil before, but you've certainly earned it, Helena. I told you that you had a lot to learn. But you were never one to listen…."

"Maybe I can help with that."

Isabel turned to look at the deep voiced individual who had just spoken, and frowned as she did so, before the heroine replied. "Nice of you to finally show up, Batman."

The Dark Knight shrugged. "Sorry I'm late. Was investigating some kid with unusual abilities in a small town in Kansas to see if he was a potential threat to our world. He isn't. At least not yet. But there was not cell service out there, so I didn't receive Oliver's message that this battle was happening until a couple hours ago. But it looks like your husband and Bane have everything well in hand here without my help. Perhaps a bit more violently than I would like, though. You, on the other hand…"

Batman gently prodded Helena's unconscious form with his boot. "You couldn't train this one properly. That's why I'm here. To bring Helena Bertinelli back to Gotham so I can turn her into a proper hero. She has the natural talent for it, she just needs the discipline."

Isabel scowled at the Dark Knight, and was about to argue with Batman before the Caped Crusader held up a hand. "I'm not saying it was your fault. I know your husband had a…history with Helena. Told you to handle with kid gloves, didn't he? Didn't allow you to enforce your lessons with the proper force, to provide a strong-willed individual like the Huntress the discipline she needed to truly progress from a vigilante to a hero, like I will. So she became a villain instead. That sound about right to you?"

Isabel reluctantly nodded. "Yes. Sometimes Helena needed a swift kick in the ass, but I knew Ol…the Arrow wouldn't like me to do that. Maybe I was too easy on her for that reason"

The Midnight Sentinel sighed and nodded towards Helena. "Fine. You can take her with you. See if you can do what the Arrow wouldn't let me accomplish and turn her into a hero. Because I certainly don't have the patience for her anymore. Just know that makes the Huntress your responsibility now. If she steps one toe out of line, I will…"

"Do nothing." Batman interrupted the Midnight Sentinel with a slight growl as he picked up Helena. "Because I will make sure that the Huntress gets thrown in Blackgate prison for the rest of her days if she becomes a villain again. She won't get any second chances from here on out. I'm not that sort of man. Now, I will secure Helena in the Bat jet, then help the Arrow continue the fight. I suggest you do the same."

Isabel sighed as Batman was walking away before she quickly added. "I will. But I wanted you to know that I really am sorry about what I said about you and your par…"

Batman waived his hand at Isabel. "Thank you but…It's okay. My parents are a sensitive subject for me, but I know you weren't yourself when you said that. Oliver explained it all to me. Congratulations on giving birth to Natasha by the way. I'll have Alfred send you a late baby shower gift in the mail later."

Isabel nodded. "Thank you."

Soon after, the Batman walked out of sight, and Isabel did the same, going the other direction. But by the time the Midnight Sentinel entered the fray, the base was taken and the battle was almost over. Only Darhk himself was unaccounted for…

* * *

…Minutes later...

"No! I have secured Talia's body so that you can secure your end of our agreement, but Darhk has escaped! Damien has alluded the capture of me and my men! Arrow, you and your associates must find him, that...warlock, and kill him at once! The man who killed my beloved must not be allowed to escape!"

If the League of Assassins and Team Arrow had needed any more reasons to want to kill Darhk, Bane's cries of fury and rage would have certainly increased those organization's desire to kill the warlock. as Oliver explained to the rest of Team Arrow over his team's private channel that he had agreed to raise Talia with the Lazarus Pitt in exchange for an alliance with Bane (something he had only revealed to Isabel before now), a revelation that caused Nyssa to swear something in Arabic. Nevertheless, the emerald archer's team split up to find Damien. It didn't take one of them long to find the dark wizard.

Or, more accurately, it didn't take Damien Darhk very long to find Spartan.

"Hello, there!"

The man's voice had a cheerful note to it, but as Spartan turned around with his stun gun drawn, the African American man saw that Damien Darhk looked a lot paler than usual, his shoulders were slumped downward, and the warlock actually coughed blood into a handkerchief. The man looked like death warmed over. Despite this, however, Darhk put a fake smile on his face that infuriated John Diggle, who pulled his .45 from a pocket in his suit while aiming it at Darhk while he shouted at the villain. "You! I'm going to kill you for what you've done! For having my brother…."

Darhk waived his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, I know. For having your brother, Andy Diggle, a man who was quite a pain in my ass in Moscow several years ago, I might add, killed by Floyd Lawton. I find it interesting that you aren't trying to kill Deadshot anymore, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Fine. Are we all caught up now? Can you just skip to the part where you kill me, please?"

Noticing the desperate tone in Damien's voice, Spartan lowered his weapon. "You want to die now? Why? I don't buy it!"

Damien laughed again, an action which caused him another coughing fit. "No, silly man. I don't want to die. I really don't. But it seems death is at my doorstep anyway since my previous encounters with Oliver and Isabel left me…the worse for the wear. Thanks to them and their abomination of a daughter, I lost all of my powers six months ago, and I've been slowly dying ever since. Nothing has been able to stop it. The best doctors in the world can't identify what is causing my symptoms, the last of the water from the Lazarus Pitt that I stole from Nanda Parbat couldn't stop what is killing me, and Venom doesn't even slow it down. I've even tried putting all of my resources into hunting down mystical artifacts of immense power, but none of them have been able to return my abilities to me or add one day to my life. No, Mr. Diggle. I don't want to die, but I am going to regardless, as all of the men who have been leaving HIVE in droves know very well, and very soon. Nothing can stop that now, so securing vengeance against you and your friends would be a futile gesture. However…"

Darhk raised his right index finger to the air as he spoke. "I realized something! I can't stop myself from dying, but I can choose the manner of my death. Once the Calculator destroyed all my computer systems I knew the League and Bane, who I recently discovered has betrayed my organization, would come for me. So, I sent my wife and children far away from me, and utilized a secret passageway to escape from Bane's men, although I did have to kill two of them with the skills I learned as an assassin . Then I made my way here, to you."

Spartan raised his weapon again. "Okay, let's say I believe you. That you are a dying man who just wants to choose how he goes out. Why pick me to kill you? Why not let Bane, an assassin, or another member of my team snuff your lights out?"

Darhk shook his head. "I've experienced enough pain over the last six months, Mr. Diggle, and the death that Bane would have provided me for killing his lover would have been painful. Messy. Drawn out. Whereas you…Like your namesake, Spartan, you kill with efficiency. You are not a cruel man, John Diggle. I know how you will kill me. With one bullet to the head, and another to the heart. Then it will be all over. Quick. Clean. Almost painless. All in all, not a bad way to go. Besides, I couldn't let an overgrown thug kill 'the great Damien Darhk!' Who would want to hear that story? But if you, the heroic Spartan, the man whose brother I had killed, kill me? Well, that sounds almost poetic, doesn't it?"

John Diggle's voice revealed he was feeling something between confusion and triumph as it traveled through his helmet and towards Damien, a man who Spartan now realized had actually been defeated six months ago, although the dark wizard had taken a long time to realize it. "Took the words right out my mouth. Alright then. Any last words?"

Darhk shook his head, smile back on his face. "I've already said everything I need to say to my family, and I have nothing more to say to you or you cohorts except that I hope that Isabel, Oliver, and Natasha Queen all end up rotting in all the hells there ever were! Go ahead. Do it!"

Spartan's gun went out with a loud BANG!, and then another one, but by the time that the second bullet, which pierced Damien's heart, entered the villain's body, Damien had already expired as a result of the first solid projectile, which had pierced his skull and lodged itself firmly in the dark sorcerer's brain. Damien Darhk knew no more.

Spartan sighed as he realized that the closure, the joy even, which he had expected to come from killing Damien Darhk and avenging his brother's death, did not come. Perhaps it was because Oliver's bodyguard had built this moment up to much in his head. Or maybe it was because Damien had wanted to die, and had made it easy for John to kill him. Regardless, Diggle felt empty as he walked away from Darhk's body, but he took solace in the fact that he had made someone pay for his brother's murder, and that he could finally close this chapter in his life.

John Diggle was already thinking about Lyla, waiting for him back in the Arrow jet, and how he knew just being around her for a while would make him feel better and help him get out of his current existential funk, when he radioed Team Arrow over his comm device. "This is Spartan. I found Darhk. He's been neutralized. It looks like we won this one, guys. Let's go home."

 **AN: Well, here we are. Another update with another author's note by yours truly. I hope you enjoyed the two chapters that came with this update as much as I've enjoyed writing them! Once again, I would like to thank the readers and reviewers of all of my Olibel stories, including Ravenmore45, nzOptimist, highlander 348 (who gave me some great ideas for this update), Troll99, Phillipe 363 (who I also borrowed some story idea from), and Pootamis, all of whom reviewed my last chapter.**

 **Hmm…Too much to talk about concerning this large update, but I would like to point out that it always bothered me that Felicity didn't do a more thorough background check on Isabel at the beginning of s2, and I always felt Team Arrow's tech wizard should have ended up kicking herself for that oversight later. This was the primary reason I had Felicity find out Isabel's "secret past" (which more and more people keep finding out about as time goes on, as tends to happen with secrets), so that Felicity would realize that she really needs to research people more efficiently sometimes. But I do believe that, given the circumstances of this point of my story, Felicity hiding what she found so neither of her friends or their family would get hurt, is something she would do. But I welcome reader feedback on this issue.**

 **As far as my changes to Andy Diggle and Noah Cuttler's characters go, I just thought that both John and Felicity deserved better than what they got from their family members on the show.**

 **That's it. Hope you all enjoyed these chapters, but please let me know what you all think in a review. Readers, thanks again for your support of this story, as it is only the thought of you, waiting for my next update, which has given me the motivation to continue writing this story at times.**

 **And of course, a very special thank you goes out to my beta reader. I could not do this without you!**

 **Two more chapters until the end of this story (I think)!**

 **Until next time, I am…**

 **-supercode**

 **P.S. I am considering changing this story's rating to "M", considering the material present in this update. Readers, what are your thoughts on this?**


	8. White Wedding!

"Let's hear it for tomorrow's grooms one more time! And remember, drinks are on me tonight!"

Everyone in club Atlantis, including John Diggle, Roy Harper, Barry Allen, and even Ray Palmer and Walter Steele, cheered and drank then. Oliver also smiled and drank down a shot right after Tommy Merlyn's drunken toast, even as he felt the club he and his friends were in spin around him. Truth be told, the emerald archer was feeling the effects of the all the alcohol he had imbibed at this bachelor party to a greater degree than he had expected. But Oliver supposed that made sense. After all, although he had never given up drinking completely (except, when he had no choice, during his two years on Lian Yu) after the wreck of the Queen's Gambit, Oliver had left his old party-boy lifestyle far behind him years ago in order to stay sober enough to keep his skills sharp, right his father's wrongs, and protect Starling City. So the archer's tolerance wasn't what it used to be.

The blonde man chuckled when Tommy Merlyn demonstrated that Oliver was not the only one who had lost his edge, as the former heir to the ruined Merlyn empire (which was not what it once was, although Tommy has still inherited some expensive buildings and assets which Queen Consolidated had purchased from Tommy at a generous price, while Oliver, with Isabel's grudging assent, gave his old friend a positon as one of QC's VP's), promptly put his head on the bar table in front of him and passed out. After Oliver checked his old friend's pulse and breathing, and loudly announced that, "He's okay!", a declaration that made everyone else in the club cheer, the emerald archer became silent as his thoughts drifted over recent events.

It had been six months since Darhk had been defeated. Six months since the last great threat to Team Arrow had been destroyed, Oliver had Talia resurrected, and the eldest daughter of the previous Demon, as well as Bane and all of his men, had left Nanda Parbat in peace with a solemn oath from Bane that neither himself, nor any of the members of his and Nyssa's fledgling "League of Shadows", would ever bring harm to Starling City or Team Arrow. Shortly afterward, using a loophole in the League's by-laws that Isabel had discovered, and Laurel had helped him navigate the intricacies of, Oliver Queen had, reluctantly, dissolved the League of Assassins, freeing Maseo, and every other assassin, from their vows to serve Ra's al Ghul for all of time, while at the same time, insuring that Oliver and his family would retain ownership of the former League base on Nanda Parbat (something Isabel had insisted on).

This had not been a decision that Oliver took lightly, but he hadn't seen a better option at the time. Oliver knew he couldn't keep being the Demon himself. His responsibilities as the interim mayor of Starling City (a post which Moira was able to fill again about a week after the League's dissolution), the field leader of team Arrow (although both Diggle and Isabel had proven that they could fill this role when Oliver was absent or incapacitated), and, most importantly, as a husband and father, prevented Oliver from keeping his role as Ra's al Ghul for the rest of his life. Furthermore, the Arrow just didn't feel right about leading a group of killers (for Oliver was convinced that trying to make the League anything else would take more than a generation), until he died, leaving Connor a bloody legacy to follow after his own demise. And Isabel had confided to Oliver that she didn't want to be associated with the League for the rest of her life either.

The Arrow had initially planned to give the League to Sarab, an honorable man that Oliver was convinced would try to make the League a positive force for change that Oliver had originally hoped it could become. But when Sarab had announced his intention to go back to Tatsu, salvage whatever was still left of his soul, and become Maseo again, Oliver knew he could not burden his friend with the mantle of Ra's al Ghul and risk taking away Maseo and Tatsu's chance to find peace. So Oliver had abandoned his plan to give the League to Sarab.

Similarly, Oliver had toyed with the idea of giving the League to Nyssa (giving it to Talia, who Nyssa had described as a "heartless sadist" who was ten times as bloodthirsty and ruthless as her paramour, Bane, had never entered the archer's thoughts), who seemed to be a fairly honorable individual who had become a lot more level-headed recently.. But Oliver knew, based on previous experience, as well from Sara's vow that she would never return to the League, that giving the League of Assassins to Nyssa would cause the Canary to leave her beloved in order to keep the darkness in her soul at bay and avoid becoming a killer again…an action which would break both her and Nyssa's hearts. Even Nyssa, who had confronted Oliver shortly after he disbanded the League and demanded to know why he hadn't given the Assassins to her if he didn't want to lead them anymore himself, had conceded that Oliver's reason for not doing so was a sound one after the Arrow had explained it to her. After all, as much as Nyssa had wanted her father's old post as the head of the League, she loved Sara more than her family's bloody legacy.

Several other minor threats to Starling came and went. Everything from common gangsters and gun runners to a few self-styled supervillains like "The Mirror Master" and "King Shark" (although the latter was originally one of Barry's villains who had escaped from an ARGUS facility, but had been apprehended by Team Arrow before he reached Central City). Also, a woman named Carrie Cutter (who called herself "Cupid"), a former FBI agent whom the Arrow had once saved from being killed, had donned a mask, picked up a bow and quiver of arrows, and attempted to interrupt Oliver Queen's second public wedding ceremony to Isabel in Las Vegas (where the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel had tried to elope in the hopes that the craziness of Starling City wouldn't follow them for a little while) shortly after Carrie discovered Oliver's secret identity. Cupid attempted to do this by murdering the bride in order to get Oliver for herself.

That had not gone over well.

In the end, shortly after John Diggle had chased Cupid off with his gun, Team Arrow tracked down and apprehended Carrie, but not before the Midnight Sentinel was "forced" to give Cupid a beat down she would never forget, landing the villainess in the hospital, then jail, with a warning from Isabel: "If you breathe a word about our secret identities, or get within 500 feet of me, Oliver, or our children ever again, I will end you!" Most of the other members of Team Arrow thought this treatment of Cupid had been excessive, but the Arrow felt differently, as he knew that he would have simply killed Carrie for trying to murder Isabel if he had caught up to her first, so Cupid had gotten of relatively light in comparison. Although Oliver kept this dark truth to himself, he guessed Isabel already knew the lengths he had been willing to go to in order to punish her would-be killer due to the smirk she gave her "husband" when he alone had defended the Midnight Sentinel's actions that night.

Throughout all of this, however, the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel had continued patrolling the streets of Starling, without really talking about the possibility of retirement. Although Oliver justified this fact by rationalizing that some of Darhk's old cronies might come back to avenge their old master, and Starling would need as many heroes as it could get if that happened, that excuse was starting to wear thin after 6 months. Especially since, from what Bane had told him via an encrypted message, most of the remaining members of HIVE, as well as several former assassins, had already joined Talia and Bane's League of Shadows, which Bane swore would never set foot in Starling as long as team Arrow stayed out of the new organization's business. No, Oliver was beginning to suspect he was putting off hanging up his hood for a different, more selfish reason. Something he had known before, but had only recently admitted to himself. Being the Arrow felt good to him.

Or maybe good wasn't the right word. Right, maybe. Things just seemed simpler and right when he and Team Arrow were patrolling the streets and stopping bad guys. After so many years spent fighting for his survival, Oliver Queen didn't think that relatively leisurely life of a CEO and philanthropist was for him. In fact, as happy as spending time with Isabel and his children made him, Oliver was pretty sure that trying to lead a more "domestic" life would drive him insane at this point. Maybe Oliver Queen would be cut out for civilian life when he was old, gray, and too slow to fight crime effectively, if he lived that long. But right now, the archer knew that he needed to be the Arrow, not just for Starling City, or his teammates, but for himself. He just hadn't found a way to break the news to Isabel yet, and the brunette hadn't pushed Oliver to talk about retirement. So the subject just hung there between him and Isabel, like the trunk of an invisible elephant, whenever Oliver suited up for a night of heroism, and Isabel wordlessly did the same.

Connor remained precocious and energetic as usual, while he began spending more and more time with Anna, his friend from the orphanage. However, somewhere along the way, Natasha, now a little over a year old, had become a bit more withdrawn, even as she quickly developed the ability to speak. The small child would sometimes stare into the middle distance while her eyes became temporarily cloudy, then lapse into long periods of silence, sometimes lasting several minutes, before the hazy look would pass from her eyes. Sometimes, Oliver and Isabel's child would then say something cryptic, that would later have some baring on a situation in the Queen families lives. Although John Constantine said this was nothing to worry about, and that Natasha was just developing a skill called precognition, or the ability to see the future, and learning to cope with this ability over time, the Queen's and their friends sometimes worried about little Natasha as she become more and more reclusive over time. Even so, occasionally, little Natasha's cryptic, post-vision words would cause the Queen family some amusement, such as the time that Natasha had come out of a vision when Tommy was visiting the Queen mansion, looked at both of her parents, then smiled before saying "Parties before wedding. Duh." Then walked off.

These simple words convinced Tommy Merlyn that Oliver and Isabel's former attempts to get formally hitched had been undone for one simple reason: Oliver and Isabel had not been too busy to have a Bachelor/Bachelorette party. Even when Oliver and Isabel had insisted that such parties were unnecessary because they were already married, except on paper, Tommy had insisted that if they weren't legally bound, Oliver and Isabel were "Ethically, no, morally obligated to party," before they formally tied the knot. In the end, the couple had reluctantly agreed they would go with Tommy's plan before trying to get legally married for the third time. Thea Queen had quickly agreed with the idea when she heard it, and Ollie's sister insisted on hosting Isabel's bachelorette party the night before the wedding at the Verdant while Tommy got another location for Oliver's bachelor party, after the siblings promised to keep the bride and groom from getting in trouble and that the somewhat unmarried couple got to the church on time.

Apparently, Anatoli, the leader of the Bratva, had a similar mindset when he dropped in unannounced several weeks ago, with several of his men, and demanded he be allowed to treat Oliver to a night on the town in Starling City to celebrate his captain's upcoming nuptials, as well as to belatedly celebrate the birth of both of Oliver's children. So, after consulting with Isabel (who Anatoli had insisted on meeting, and very much approved of, using Russian to tell the brunette that "My comrade is a lucky man to have you accept his hand in marriage"), Oliver had agreed to let Anatoli show him "how we celebrate momentous occasions like this in the Bratva", while Isabel had a night out on the town with her female friends.

However, the "bachelor party" that Anatoli threw Oliver was less lively than the leader of the Russian mob would have liked, for three reasons. One, although it had been over a year, since their Russian "brothers" had been killed by Darhk (and about as long since the funeral for those men, which Oliver had attended while being forced to drink far more vodka than he was comfortable with), and about six months since their deaths had been avenged, the memory of their fallen Bratva brethren, who had died defending Oliver and Isabel, was on both Oliver and Anatoli's mind during the latter's impromptu celebration of the numerous recent milestones in Oliver's life. Second, Oliver had set a number of ground-rules for the celebration, such as "no prostitutes or drugs", and although the Arrow had reluctantly allowed Anatoli to use the Bratva leader's own money to order strippers and lots and lots of vodka for his men, Oliver refused to avail himself of the former, sitting in a private booth in the back of the Bratva owned club with Anatoli, where he couldn't see, or be seen by the "adult entertainers", and the vigilante only allowed himself to drink a few glasses of vodka. Although Anatoli had understood and respected Oliver's other conditions, since the Bratva captain was a family man now, something the mob boss understood, since he had finally married his long-time girlfriend, Anastasia (who had already given Anatoli 12 years of her life, as well as five children) over 6 months ago, and he had been faithful to her since then. However, although he abstained from the strippers as well, Anatoli freely drank countless glasses of vodka, and was disappointed that Oliver did not do the same, as would be the traditional Bratva celebration custom, and the Bratva leader even went as far as calling Oliver a "buzzkill", until Mr. Queen had pointed out that Isabel would probably make him sleep on the couch, for the first time since his relationship with the brunette, if he let "their" children see him being drunk when he got home. The mob boss just laughed then, and let the subject of Oliver's alcohol consumption drop, after stating that "Yes, I've seen how beautiful your fiancée is, comrade. I don't blame you for not wanting to sleep on the couch and miss out on that!"

But the most important reason that the Bratva party didn't feel like a party was that it quickly morphed into a hushed business meeting/treaty after Anatoli quietly admitted that he knew Oliver Queen was the Arrow because he "would recognize that hood anywhere." The mob boss had then explained that he valued Oliver's friendship, and didn't want to make enemies of the man who had saved his life, or the rest of team Arrow, but that he was concerned that could be bad for business, which could not be allowed, even though Oliver and his friends had hit other mob organization in Starling, like the Triads, a lot more often than the Bratva. Oliver had taken this revelation in stride, and asserted that, although he believed in what he was accomplishing as the Arrow, and was not ready to hang up the hood yet, he was willing to negotiate terms so that the Bratva and Team Arrow could peacefully co-exist in Starling City. The two men negotiated their terms well into the night, and among other stipulations, they agreed on the following: Team Arrow would look the other way if the Bratva stuck to gambling operations, dealing some select drugs (such as alcohol and marijuana, but none of the really hard stuff, like Vertigo, especially not Vertigo), prostitution (provided the workers and their customers were not endangered or coerced into the trade in any way), and other (relatively) victimless crimes in Starling City.

Illegal weapons deals would not be allowed, nor would human trafficking (Anatoli had snorted in indignation then, stating "You know our organization doesn't do that shit anyway, Oliver"). Kidnapping and murder, obviously, would not be allowed either, although the members of the Bratva would be free to defend themselves from attackers, if necessary. Even so, Anatoli would tell Oliver about any mob wars he knew were about to erupt in Starling City, and let Team Arrow and the cops try to find a way to take down the Bratva's enemies that did not involve large amounts of bloodshed, before the Bratva considered going to war. In return for all of these concessions, Oliver also promised he would talk to his mother, Moira Queen, about keeping the cops off the Bratva's back, and on the other criminal organization like white on rice, as long as they met Oliver's conditions. In short, these conditions, if implemented, would keep crime in Starling City relatively controlled, while allowing the Bratva to function without vigilante or police interference. In other words, the Bratva would have the chance to virtually corner the organized crime market in Starling City. In the end, this offer turned out to be too good for Anatoli to pass up, and after hours of hand wringing, the mob bass agreed to the Arrow's conditions by the time the "party" finally shut down around 3AM.

Tommy Merlyn's party was relatively tame in comparison to Anatoli's, but it was a lot more fun for everyone involved, since it was simply a gathering of good friends having a good time, and not a business meeting in disguise. However, the "Bachelor party" that Tommy threw was not just for Oliver.

In addition to all of the events that had occurred in the lives of Oliver, Isabel, and their children, as well as the exploits of Team Arrow as a whole, over the past six months, there had been several recent developments in the personal lives of the other team members and their families. Some of these events, such as Donna Smoak and Ray Palmer moving in together after Ray's long (from his perspective) absence from the present, only had a tangential effect on the team. Other changes, such as Lyla and Diggle's decision to get married (again), before they tried to have a child, were far more personal. Especially after it became more and more apparent that setting up an appropriate wedding in Starling City anytime soon would be impossible without a whole lot of money and/or some serious political clout. Oliver, for his part, offered his help on both of these fronts, but John Diggle refused his fellow vigilante's help, saying he didn't want to feel like he was in Oliver's debt. So, instead, in order to help Diggle while allowing Spartan to save face, the Arrow came up with another, simple idea. After telling Isabel about this plan, and the brunette approved of it a lot faster than he had thought she would, Oliver gave Diggle another offer: to let Diggle and Lyla get married on the same day, and the same venue, as Oliver and Isabel, since the slightly younger couple had already booked the church for their third official wedding ceremony for an entire day. Diggle reluctantly accepted this offer, after Oliver pointed out that, as far he and Isabel were concerned, the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel were already married, anyway, so they weren't too concerned about the ceremony only focusing on them. So, after a little coordinating between the two couples, all the details for the wedding ceremony seemed to be set three months before the event.

But things changed yet again when Moira Queen and Walter Steele announced to the rest of the Queen family that they had decided to get married again, in another Catholic ceremony about a week after Oliver and Isabel were scheduled to get back from their honeymoon. At first, this announcement brought joy to every member of the Queen family (even Isabel, who had actually grown to like Moira over time, although her pride wouldn't let her admit this publicly). Unfortunately, a little less than 3 months before Oliver and Isabel's ceremony was to take place, Moira received a very stiff, formal letter from the bishop of the Starling City diocese which basically stated that, to due Moira's previous divorce to Walter Steele, as well as the events of Oliver and Isabel's last attempt to get married in Starling City (during which Darhk had massacred several people, including the priest who had been officiating that ceremony), the Roman Catholic church had recently decided to "cease and desist all public involvement with the Queen family, including your scheduled nuptials to Walter Steele…" The letter had gone on and on from there. However, the basic point of the letter had been this: although the Queen family would still be allowed to attend Mass, none of them would ever be allowed to get married in a Roman Catholic Church ever again, and the second wedding between Moira and Walter was off.

Moira had actually cried (only for a few seconds, and the Queen matriarch had quickly written off the few tears she wiped out of her eyes as the byproduct of allergies) after she read this letter in front of her two children. Oliver and Thea's mother had then sighed deeply and said. "I know it's silly for me to get upset over this. I know Walter and I will find another place to get married, but it could take a year to find a suitable location for that within Starling City limits, and Walter and I were so ready to get married again, and make it stick this time. We even decided to change our last names to Queen-Steele" (Moira claimed the order of the naming was simply alphabetical, but Oliver and Thea both knew that their mother wanted their families name to be the most prominent)! We were just…"

Moira's shoulder's had slumped downward then, before the Queen matriarch spoke sadly. "So ready to be married again."

Surprisingly, it was Isabel who suggested a solution to the Queen matriarch's marriage dilemma after her husband told her about it. The brunette had sighed dramatically shook her head while rolling her eyes, and spoke to Oliver. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt too much to let your mom and Walter get married on the same day as us. I mean, we're already letting Diggle get married in the same ceremony. And as far as I'm concerned, you and I are already married, so…I guess we could make a double wedding event into a triple wedding. Besides, I do kind of owe your mom for saving me and Natasha from Darhk two weddings ago, and for giving us the mansion. And for paying for this next wedding."

But the smile on Isabel's face let Oliver know his "wife" was not actually reluctant to have Moira and Walter share their wedding day, since the brunette and the Queen matriarch had actually started to get along recently. Oliver had then sent Isabel a smile, as well as a silent "thank you" with his eyes, and the couple had then consulted with Moira and Walter concerning how they could integrate the older couple into the wedding ceremony.

Oliver's slow-moving thoughts were brought back to the present, and to the bachelor party Tommy had thrown him, Diggle, and Walter, when the latter two individuals started to shake the host of tonight's festivities awake while Diggle laughed. "You know, I know it's been awhile since I got married last time, but I thought it was the bachelors that were supposed to get hosed at these parties, not the host!"

Walter actually laughed at that, an act which startled Oliver a little and let him know that his once and future stepfather was probably more drunk than he had been in a very long time, while the CEO of Starling National Bank added. "Yes, I was under that impression as well. Honestly, with his reputation, I believed that Mr. Merlyn here would be able to hold his liquor better than this!"

Oliver shook his head slowly, so that his vision wouldn't blur. "He's not the same party boy that he was seven to eight years ago. Neither am I. Our tolerances aren't what they used to be. Which is a good thing for our livers, but bad for enjoying a party like this one without passing out. The only reason I'm still holding my own is that I've always had a better constitution for alcohol. Tommy was always the light weight whenever the two of us used to go clubbing."

Diggle shrugged. "Be that as it may, Mr. Merlyn needs to go home now. I'll drop him off at his and Laurel's place myself. By the way…." Diggle laughed as he tried unsuccessfully to carry Tommy on his own before both men, the latter of whom was half awake and mumbling "Is everyone enjoying the partyyyyy," and also, "Laurel is going to kill me," over and over, plopped down back onto their seats, causing Oliver to shake his head and say. "I don't think so, Tommy, but Laurel might kill you if you don't pop the question to her sometime soon. She told me and Isabel that she found the ring you bought her under your side of the bed over a month ago."

Tommy groaned at this revelation and spoke in a whiny, slurred voice. "That was supposed to be a suuurprise!" The former party boy then hiccupped loudly, causing everyone else present at the bachelor party to laugh.

Oliver shook his head at his friend's antics, before he turned to John Diggle with a more serious expression on his face. "I don't think you are sober enough to drive either, Diggle, let me take him home so that the driver I hired can bring you all back when the rest of you are done having a good time. You know, unless I decide to come back and finish out the night with all of you. Then I can drive the rest of you home."

But Barry Allen put a hand on the archer's shoulder and stopped him from getting up. "Yeah, I don't think you're good to drive either, Oliver. Give me Tommy's address and I'll drive him home in the van I borrowed from Star Labs to get to Starling without arousing suspicion. I know from personal experience that inebriated people don't appreciate the…alternate method of transportation that I could provide." Barry inwardly shuddered at the memory of a drunk Caitlin Snow throwing up all over his shoes after he dropped her off at her apartment using super speed after one particular night on the town.

Oliver laughed at that. "Barry…you drank more than anyone else here tonight!"

The blonde speedster shrugged. "Yeah, but alcohol doesn't affect me the same way it does everybody else because…you know…reasons."

Oliver just nodded, understanding Barry's desire not to talk about his powers in such a public setting, before the younger blonde continued speaking. "So if anybody but your professional driver is going to be driving tonight, it should be me! Because you are in no condition to drive my friend!"

Oliver glared challengingly at Barry for the latter's insinuation that the archer was too drunk to drive. But the glare, which Mr. Allen would have found very intimidating in other circumstances, failed to impress when Oliver's slightly bloodshot eyes couldn't stay focused on Barry's own orbs. Finally, Oliver sighed. "Fine." The archer then gave Barry Tommy's address and told the scientist were the spare key that Laurel and Tommy didn't think anybody knew about was, then helped the speedster load Tommy into the van before Barry drove the former party boy home.

Diggle snorted after he and Oliver watched Barry drive off with Tommy. "Well, that's one man down tonight. Hey Oliver, don't you think you should turn in early too? I mean, Lyla's ex-military, like me, so she's cool about this stuff, but I'm not sure Isabel will like it if you come to your wedding hung-over."

Oliver smirked as he and Diggle walked back into the club. "Actually, Diggle, that shouldn't be a problem. Isabel told me that if I had to have a bachelor party, that I should do it right. And since I already have my tux prepared, my wedding vows memorized, and Thea and the nanny are going to take turns taking care of Connor and Natasha until the honeymoon is over, Isabel said I should feel free to enjoy myself tonight as long as, and I quote, 'You're not too drunk to walk down the aisle tomorrow and you can say your vows without slurring them.'" Since the wedding isn't until tomorrow afternoon, I think I will be alright, Diggle."

The ex-soldier and former Demon both laughed then, and within moments, the two vigilantes were drinking again and having a good time with their friends, sans Ray, who had passed out while his two fellow crime fighters had been loading Tommy into the van, an event which had caused Roy to call a cab for the Atom, due to the gangs promise to Felicity to "make sure that my mom's boyfriend doesn't get hurt or make a fool of himself, because my mother says Ray has a really low alcohol tolerance." However, the moment of celebration was briefly interrupted by one Oliver's teammates, as Roy Harper, who had become quite drunk, stood up slowly, then put his hands on Oliver and Walter's right shoulders, and act which caused the former party to glare at the younger man, while Mr. Steele merely looked annoyed, before the Red Arrow finally spoke. "Oliver, Wal…Mr. Steele. I have some…some...a thing I need to tell both of you. And it's suuuper important. Thea wanted to wait until your honeymoons were over to announce this, but…I really need to get this this off my chest, with you know, you two being her brother and her step-Father and all. I guess I should have told Tommy, too…Oh well!"

Oliver's stomach was in knots, and the serious look on Walter's face indicated his thoughts were running in the same direction as his own, as the archer sighed and looked pointedly at Roy. "Roy, you are giving me a headache, so whatever you have to say, just know that I will be much less inclined to kill you for saying it if you will just spit it out in the next five seconds."

Roy gulped. "Damn, man. I didn't think a former partier like yourself would be an angry drunk. But fine. The truth is, earlier tonight…"

* * *

….Elsewhere…

"Roy asked me to marry him!"

Everyone else at the Verdant, including Isabel, both of the Smoak women, the Lance sisters, Lyla, and Moira, all shouted "Congratulations!" to demonstrate their approval of Roy Harper's decision to propose to his longtime girlfriend, and Isabel smiled. Truth be told, even if she couldn't get drunk anymore, Thea Queen and her other female friends from team Arrow had succeeded admirably in helping Oliver Queen's bride have a good time the night before her and Oliver's final (they hoped) wedding. This was despite the fact that Team Arrow had a run-in with some Triad mobsters earlier this evening which had resulted in Isabel getting shot full of far more lead than she was comfortable with having in her system, courtesy of China White and her assault rifle. Despite her healing factor forcing the bullets out of her body and healing up her wounds within seconds, the Midnight Sentinel had a headache for about an hour after that incident.

China hadn't been nearly as lucky, as Isabel had knocked the mob boss unconscious before the heroine and her teammates left White and her flunkies tied up outside a SCPD policed department with enough evidence to get all of the members of the Triad thrown in jail for life. Not that it would come to that. Although Isabel had, against her own vindictive instincts, convinced Oliver not to put an arrow in White's heart by pointing out that the Arrow would have to kill half the criminals in Starling if he took vengeance on everyone who shot in the Midnight Sentinel's direction, and Oliver had agreed to be a little less…murderous while protecting his meta-human wife, the Arrow had still called Amanda Waller, who had assured Oliver that "Within 24 hours, White would no longer be anyone's problem." Although both Oliver and Isabel found Waller scary, they knew the woman would get results, and that China White would not live to see the inside of a court room. After that incident was over, Isabel had rolled her eyes at Oliver then smirked before inquiring in a teasing voice. "Damn, Oliver. When the hell did I become the good cop in our partnership?!"

It was actually Moira Queen who unintentionally helped Isabel get out of her dark thoughts when she smirked in Isabel's direction and asked a question that both the Queen matriarch and her daughter in-law already knew the answer to, based upon the ring on Thea's finger that Isabel had pointed out to Moira earlier in the evening. "Well, don't leave us in suspense dear. Did you say yes, or are you making the man wait a little while as punishment for waiting this long to ask you to marry him after you've been living together such a long time?"

Thea then put on a strange expression that was midway between a smile and a frown. "I said yes, of course. But I was a little mad because I wanted to be the one to ask him to marry me instead. You know, because I didn't feel like I needed to play the helpless damsel and wait for my man to take action on his own!"

Isabel nodded in understanding of Thea's point, remembering that she had been the one to give Oliver back the engagement ring he had bought her a long time ago, just before the Arrow had proposed to her. In Isabel's mind, that symbolic act of giving the ring back had meant that she had not only given Oliver permission to ask her to marry her ahead of time, she had also made the first move towards her and Oliver getting married. In short, she had gotten the benefit of having Oliver propose and (sort of) marry her without setting aside her self-concept as a strong woman who was in charge of her own destiny. Which was important to Isabel, because, after being manipulated by both Robert Queen and Slade Wilson, the Midnight Sentinel had vowed that no man, not even Oliver, would ever manipulate her again. And Isabel guessed that Thea had wanted to propose to Roy Harper so that she could feel like an empowered woman as well.

Moira, however, had a different opinion on the matter. "I understand, Thea. You wanted to make the first move. To be in control. But…trust me when I say that Roy asking you marry him, when you were ready to be married, was a good thing. At least this way, you will know that he is going to marry you because he wants to, not because he feels coerced into doing so. Believe me when I say that it's better this way."

Isabel frowned at Moira's tone of voice, but said nothing, even as the brunette woman deduced that Moira Queen was probably speaking from personal experience. After all, the Queen matriarch herself had admitted that her former relationship to the late Robert Queen had been a strained one, filled with both arguments and affairs, for years before Robert died. And it was also a matter of public record that Moira and Robert had dated for almost five years before the two got married. So it didn't take a genius to guess, based upon Moira's words, that the Queen matriarch had probably coerced Robert into marrying her years ago. And Isabel, of all people, knew that decision hadn't turned out well.

Thea smiled. "Yeah. I guess you're right mom. The important thing is that I get to marry the man I love. But enough about me. How are my brides doing tonight!?"

Isabel, Lyla, and Moira all let out a loud, (mostly) drunken whooping sound, and the bachelorette party continued on from there. And continued on into the wee hours of the morning. Although every women present were experienced drinkers, and could hold their liquor quite well, most of the women at the party dropped like flies, one by one, as the alcohol in their systems finally took its toll.

Thea was the first one to drop out of the party about two hours into the event, when the woman loudly exclaimed "I don't feel so hot," before she drunkenly stumbled towards the bathroom. About 30 minutes later, a very green looking Thea Queen emerged from the women's restroom and announced that she was going to get a cab home, although she made sure to hug her mom, Isabel, and even Lyla, before she got into the cab, while making sure to secure the future brides promise to "Keep partying without me and enjoy your bachelorette party! Woo hoo!"

Moira was the next one to leave, although the Queen matriarch did so with more grace than her daughter had, as she had simply dialed her personal limo driver to pick her up and said goodbye to the others one by one, while simply telling the others. "I think I've had enough for the evening. But you younger ladies should all keep going and have a good time! I'll see you all at the wedding tomorrow!"

Laurel was the next to be sent home, about 30 minutes later, but for a completely different reason. "Guys, I think I need to go home now, because some of that vodka you're drinking is starting to look much better than it should for a recovering alcoholic, and I need think I need to leave before I end up drinking some."

Isabel frowned. "That isn't necessary, Laurel. Thea and I offered to make this party a non-alcoholic one for that very reason, but you were the one that said you would be okay seeing other people drink around you as long as you weren't offered anything. But look, if you changed your mind about that, we can still put all these drinks away and get out something else. I know Thea has some non-alcoholic beverages stored in the back for customers between the ages of 18 and 21, after all. We'll just use that instead of booze."

Laurel shook her head. "This is your bachelorette party! You don't have to do that on my account…"

Isabel huffed in annoyance. "Please. You know that I can't even get drunk, so, except for the fact that I actually like how vodka tastes, alcohol is wasted on me. And I'm sure everyone else would be okay with celebrating tomorrow's wedding while (mostly) sober if it meant you could stick around with us a little while longer…."

This proposal was met with many nods of approval from the (remaining) members of the wedding party. "It's okay, sis. We don't need booze to have fun, and I drink to much as it is anyway!" "Yeah, and the two of us have definitely had our share of mother daughter binders in Vegas" "That's true…But don't embarrass me by saying stuff like that mom!" "Yeah, my once and future husband will drink enough on our second honeymoon anyway!" and finally, Isabel's one last entreaty, "Please stay, Laurel. You're good friend, and I would appreciate if you could stay and celebrate with us!"

Laurel looked at the group of women around her for several seconds before she sighed. "Damn. Now I really wish I could stay. But…" the brown-haired girl looked down and her watch and shook her head. "I really can't. The other reason that I have to go now is that I have to be in court tomorrow morning. Don't worry, I won't miss the wedding, but I really have to go right now anyway. And I just feel really bad about that now because you are all having such a good time and…Wait, I think that's the first time you've ever called me your friend, Isabel."

Isabel smirked and shrugged at the same time. "That's because you are my friend, Laurel. It just took me awhile to realize it because I'm slow to trust people sometimes. And real friends know when to let these things go. So if you need to go, then go. Make sure that the bad guys get put in jail tomorrow morning."

All the other females in the party just nodded in agreement, and Laurel smiled in silent thanks before Isabel added. "But Laurel…don't even think about being late to the wedding."

Laurel nodded and started running out of the Verdant while simultaneously waving to everyone else at the party while saying. "Sorry about this everybody, but I'll see you all at the wedding tomorrow."

The party really went off of the rails after Laurel left, as the alcohol consumption of the remaining females increased after the only abstainer had left the building. Lyla was the next one to feel the effects, and after about an hour of telling funny, but sometimes inappropriate stories about her relationship with John Diggle, like "One time, I asked him to come to my room with protection, and the man actually brought a .45 instead of a condom. Can you believe that?!", the other remaining females decided that the ARGUS agent had enough for the evening and had a cab send her home to the apartment she shared with Diggle.

The Smoak women (and Isabel still didn't know how Felicity had convinced her to add Donna to the small guest list for the wedding) were the next to tap out for the party about 45 minutes after that, but not until Felicity and Donna had found an old karaoke machine in one of the back rooms after the Verdant and started singing along (badly) to a variety of classic rock songs. The mother/daughter duo even tried to get Isabel and Sara to join in with them at one point, but the two vigilantes just looked at each other, shook their head, and simultaneously said, "NO!" Even so, the Smoak women continued singing for another 10 minutes after that, before Donna herself cut the party off for herself and her daughter after a horrid rendition of "I Love Rock and Roll" that was almost painful to listen to, as the elder Smoak woman took Felicity's arm and began leading her daughter out of the club. "I think we've reached our limit again, sweetie. It's time for us to go home."

"Stop it mom! You're embarrassing me!" Felicity protested, even as she allowed her mom to drag her out of the Verdant towards a cab, but not before the younger Smoak woman waved at Isabel and Sara while saying. "Bye guys! See you tomorrow at the wedding! And in case we can't talk at the reception Isabel, have lots of good sex on the honeymoon!"

Isabel hid her face in embarrassment for several seconds, but as soon as the Smoak women had exited the Verdant completely, first Sara, then Isabel, burst into a fit of laughter which lasted almost a minute before the youngest Lance spoke. "Can you believe those two!? I guess Smoak women are all crazy when they are drunk!"

Isabel half smiled, half smirked. "I guess so. So…I guess we're the last two women standing. Or sitting. Whatever. What do you want to do now?"

The Canary smirked right back at the Midnight Sentinel. "Well, you said you couldn't get drunk, right?" Isabel just nodded, causing Sara to smile while adding. "Let's put that to the test, shall we?"

The youngest Lance flagged down the lone bartender still in the club and said. "We need two of your strongest drinks! One for me, and one for my friend here with the iron liver!"

The Canary looked at the Midnight Sentinel with a challenge in her eyes even as she continued speaking to the bartender. "And keep them coming!"

* * *

The next day…

Oliver was deep in thought, a hard thing to do when his head was pounding from the night before, staring at his reflection as his slightly unsteady hands fumbled trying to put his bow tie on his tux, when he was surprised by a pair of small, but strong hands that reached around the archer's body and finished the job of tying the knot of fabric into the correct position. The owner of said hands then spoke, although Oliver could not yet see anything but the woman's hands due to her position behind the archer when she spoke. "Nice tux. Although I've found that it's the man that makes the clothes look good, not the other way around. And you fill out that suit so well…"

Oliver couldn't suppress a shudder when the woman behind him breathed right on the Arrow's neck. "Your bride is a very lucky woman."

The blonde haired man smiled. "Actually, I think I'm the lucky one today."

Isabel smiled as she put her head on Oliver's shoulder while finally revealing her face to the mirror and her groom's field of vision. The brunette then began to nibble on her "husband's" ear a little as she spoke in a low voice that reminded Oliver of how Isabel had asked him to "pay the check", that first night in Russia. "That was definitely the right answer, Oliver Queen. And as good as you look in that suit, I want to rip it off right now and take you right here. I know that someone told us we should abstain from sex a couple of weeks in order to build up anticipation for the honeymoon, but that was way too long and I am dying to get my hands on you right this instant!"

Oliver's heart, as well as every part of the man's body, especially some that were further south, agreed with Isabel and wanted to give into his lover's entreaty, but it was the archer's mind that prevailed as he slowly pulled away from Isabel with a sigh then turned around to look at his bride as he spoke. "Sorry, Isabel. I don't think that's such a great idea. Putting aside how much it's bad luck for me to even see you before the wedding, I think us having sex only three hours before our wedding, possibly making us late for the ceremony, would go from a social blunder to a full blown faux pa. Besides, you aren't even in your wedding dress. My little sister is probably freaking out right now, thinking that she has a runaway bride that won't be ready on time to get married to her brother!"

Isabel pouted as she sat down on the bed she and Oliver had shared almost every night, for over a year. "I know you're right. I know we'll be officially married soon, if we're luckier than in the past, and we'll be on our honeymoon while Thea and our nanny watch Connor and Natasha, and we will have tons of time to ourselves then. And I'm probably being selfish right now, but…Sleeping without you last night really sucked, Oliver. I missed you and when I came here to talk to you about something and saw you looking good, like always, I just, I just wanted to be as close to you as possible right away…."

Oliver just nodded. He knew Isabel had trouble sleeping alone, which was one reason why he the archer had shared his bed with Isabel every night ever since they had moved in together more than a year ago. Every night except last night, when both Moira and Thea had insisted on Oliver and Isabel sleeping in separate wings of the mansion because "It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the night before the wedding!" But right now, seeing how that decision had affected Isabel, Oliver really wished he had put his foot down and insisted that he and Isabel sleep in the same bed last night, as he and his wife always did.

Isabel smirked. "Besides, I figured seeing you before the wedding wouldn't be that bad, considering that we're already married and all. You are already my husband, Oliver. No matter what some piece of paper says. Besides, I had something important that I wanted to talk to you about before the ceremony, and I wanted us to be free from prying eyes, and I didn't want to wait until we landed in the Bahamas for the honeymoon, so…"

It was only then that Oliver noticed the green object in Isabel's hand. The Arrow frowned in concern as he spoke to the Midnight Sentinel and interrupted her words. I see your point. Why is my Arrow hood in your hand?"

Isabel rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face indicated that the gesture was done in jest, rather than an attempt to mock Oliver. "I should be asking you that, Oliver. Raisa, that Russian woman that you told me has been working for your family since you were a kid. She found the hooded jacket in Connor's room this morning while she was cleaning the manor and came straight to me after she found it. How do you suppose your Arrow hood ended up in Connor's room?"

Oliver sighed and rubbed his index finger and thumb together. He knew exactly what had happened. After helping his team take care of China last night, but before his bachelor party, Oliver, still wearing his Arrow outfit, sans the jacket, had read his son a story and tucked him in for the night. At the time, Oliver's thoughts had been busy as he had been contemplating the future of his unconventional family, and, as much as a rush as he had been in to get to the limo on time for his party, Oliver now realized he had left the hood in a corner of his son's room before changing into his clothes for the party. "Yeah, that was my fault. I left it there last night. I was careless, and I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again"

Oliver extended his hand towards Isabel, who sighed and nodded as she handed the Arrow his hood. "You better not. I would hate to have to beat up any would be extortionist who discovered your identity because you couldn't keep track of your gear."

The blonde man nodded as the brunette continued talking with a smile. "Fortunately, Raisa was very discrete about the whole thing, and she waited until I was alone for a moment before she came to me and said, in Russian, that she had known our secret identities for a long time now, among many other things, and that she knew how to keep secrets. And…I believe her, Oliver. She had been nothing but nice to me since she arrived, and if she's as loyal as you say she is…."

Oliver was staring at the slightly worn hood in his hands as he spoke. "She is. She has always been loyal to my family and served us faithfully. That's why she is the only one of our original staff who passed that very strenuous background check my mother gave to the house staff after Malcolm's stunt at Christmas. Why Raisa was the only one who my mother didn't fire. And she's always nice to everyone. You're right. We can trust her. I think we should probably give her a raise, though…"

Isabel frowned. "If she's as loyal to this family as you say, Oliver, I don't think she needs hush money, and if she wasn't loyal, I don't think money would help…"

Oliver put the hood in a hidden compartment under his and Isabel's bed as he spoke. "It's not a bribe, Isabel. It's a reward. Raisa has taken care of the Queen family since before I could remember, and she hasn't had a raise in years. And I think her actions today have proven that she has earned it, don't you?"

Isabel nodded. "Absolutely. It's not like we're hurting for money, after all. But there is something I wanted to ask you about for a while now, Oliver. And now is as good a time as any. I couldn't help but notice that the hood you wear as the Arrow is older than the rest of your outfit. Not worn out, but definitely well used. And I saw the fond, faraway expression you were wearing when you looked at it just now. And I was wondering…"

Isabel let her words hang in the air, but Oliver caught their meaning immediately, and the blonde man nodded. "You wanted to know where it came from."

The brunette woman looked right at her lover. "Yes."

Oliver sighed. "That's a long story. And we don't have time for the long version since you still have to get ready for our wedding, but…Originally, this hood belonged to a man named Yao Fei. He was one of the first people I met on the island. He…I guess you could say he began my training. He helped teach me how to survive in Purgatory. And then…" Oliver sighed. "Then he died."

Isabel's face was a stoic mask now, but her eyes gave away her compassion for Oliver as she replied. "I'm sorry."

Oliver nodded and shot Isabel a silent "thank you" with his eyes before he took a deep breath and continued speaking. "After Yao Fei died, his daughter, Shado, started wearing the same hood as her father, although she sowed it into her own jacket. Anyway, she helped complete my training. Kept me alive. And then…she died too. And I couldn't stop it. I see that now. I thought I could have saved her, for years after it happened, but I realize now that the person who killed her probably would have done so no matter what I did. Even so…after everything she did for me…I figure wearing this hood to honor her and her father while I fight injustice…it's the least I can do to honor her memory. Her and her father's."

Isabel nodded. She had picked up enough from Slade Wilson's ranting and ravings, both during the five or so years she had been the one-eyed man's student, and after she had "betrayed" the psychopath, to know that Shado was the woman that Slade had loved. The woman that the older man blamed Oliver for not saving, as well as the hard truth that Shado had, apparently, liked Oliver more than she liked Slade. But now, based upon the way that Oliver had looked at that hood, and spoken about the dead Asian woman, Isabel also knew something. "You and Shado were close."

Oliver picked up on Isabel's tone of voice instantly. The brunette's words were neither inquisitive nor accusatory, nor did they hold any hint of jealousy. Simply a statement of fact. Oliver responded in kind. "Yes. Look, I really didn't intend to lay all of this on you, especially the day of our wedding, but since you asked… I didn't…I don't think I could say I was in love with her, but…yes. I was close to Shado, and I was sorry when she died. And I won't dishonor her memory by saying anything different, or by not wearing the hood, which I stitched into my vigilante outfit."

Isabel looked thoughtful, as if she was weighing her next words very carefully, before she finally spoke again several seconds later. "If she kept you safe. If she made you strong enough to survive and get back here to Starling, were you found me…were you saved me from myself….then I'm glad she was there with you on that accursed island. And also…"

This time it was Isabel's turn to take a deep breath before speaking. "I think you should keep wearing the hood too. And that I should keep wearing my Midnight Sentinel outfit. I know we talked about quitting the vigilante business a while ago, and if you had retired then, I would have too. Because honestly, the list of people I cared about when we first had that conversation was a very short one, and you were, you, along with Connor and Natasha, are, at the top, so I was only playing hero back then to keep you safe. But it's different now. I'm different. I've grown to enjoy helping others and…I don't want to stop being the Midnight Sentinel now, but I know it wouldn't be the same without you, so…"

Oliver cut off Isabel's words with a smile and some words of his own. "Good. I think we're on the same page, then. I don't want to stop either. Being a vigilante…It's not all of who I am. You, Connor and Natasha, and the rest of my family and friends have helped me realize that over the last few years. But being the Arrow is an important part of who I am, and I'm not ready to give up on that part of myself, the part of myself that gets to help people on the streets were they live, just yet. And in every aspect of our lives, including being a parent, CEO, or as a vigilante, there is no one, absolutely no one, who I would rather have on my side than you, Isabel."

Isabel Rochev-Queen smiled. "Nice recovery. And it's a good thing that we're getting married today then, isn't it?" The Russian born woman then walked towards Oliver her lover and gave him a kiss that the blonde man quickly reciprocated, but the brunette pulled away, causing Oliver to groan and protest, and Isabel to laugh. "Sorry, but that's about as much as I trust myself to give you right now. If I'd let that kiss go on much longer…I'm not sure I would have the self-control to stop until I'd had my way with you."

Oliver nodded. "That makes sense. I'm not sure I could have pulled away from that kiss at all if you hadn't done so. I'm really looking forward to the honeymoon!"

Isabel gave Oliver a wicked grin. "Me too. By the way, how did the bachelor party go? Because at the bachelorette party, Lyla told embarrassing stories about her and Diggle, Laurel left early, Felicity and her mom sang really badly, and I drank Sara Lance under the table. Oh, and your sister told me that Roy Harper and her got engaged. You? "

Oliver chuckled, only then remembering he was still slightly hung over as the action hurt his head. "It was a lot like your evening, actually. Roy told me about the engagement already, and I made him promise to take care of my sister or I would stick an arrow somewhere he really wouldn't like, Tommy and Ray reached their limit pretty early on and tapped out early for the night. Oh, and Felicity's boyfriend, a police scientist, the most straight-laced, goody-two shoes person I know, outdrank a former soldier, a party boy, and two vigilantes, and had to drive the rest of us home. He has a meta-human metabolism, like you, apparently."

Isabel laughed. "Sounds like you all had a good time. Good. As long as you can keep your promise and get things right at the altar."

Oliver smiled. "Don't worry. I know exactly what I'm going to say at the ceremony, and I wouldn't miss it for the world. "

"Good." The brunette sighed. "I'd better find Thea and let her get me prepped for the wedding. But Oliver? Can you do me a favor?"

The blonde man nodded. "Anything."

"Good." Isabel sighed. "No matter what the law may say, we did get married in Nanda Parbat. You are my husband, and I am your wife. Right?"

Oliver nodded. "Of course. I've told my family, including Connor and Natasha, my friends, and everyone who'll listen that as far as I'm concerned, you and I are already married. What is your point?"

Isabel frowned. "If this wedding doesn't go well. If it gets crashed, or something goes wrong with the proceedings, or if something else goes wrong, and we can't be legally married…again…I don't want to have another one. Four weddings, one really weird one that isn't recognizable by law, and three botched ones, would be enough for me. So if, for some reason, this wedding doesn't go well…let's just live together as a family with our children and tell everyone that you and I are married."

Oliver suppressed the impulse to tell Isabel that "nothing would go wrong" with this next wedding ceremony, as much as he hoped that would be the cause, for experience had shown that wasn't a promise the Arrow was certain he could keep. Instead, the archer took a deep breath and said. "I hope it doesn't come to that. That you can finally have the beautiful wedding you wanted. The wedding that you deserve. But if this wedding falls through? Then yes. We'll do things your way. We know that you and I are married, Isabel, and so do our family and friends. That's all I really care about, anyway."

Isabel smiled. "Good. See you at the altar, husband."

* * *

It was a beautiful wedding. It wasn't a big wedding, despite the fact that three wedding ceremonies were held back to back, almost simultaneously, that day. The small Eastern-Orthodox church that Isabel had chosen, the one that her foster parents had taken her to many times years ago, didn't have as much space, or as many decorations as the Roman Catholic church Moira had picked two weddings ago. For the builders of the smaller church had no pretensions of greatness. Even so, the stained glass windows, as well as several religious icons that Isabel vaguely remembered the meaning of from her youth, painted a very pretty picture, indeed, and nobody, not even Moira, complained about the ceremonies for three couples being held in such a small building.

The aged priest of the small church, a man who was well into his 60's smiled as he oversaw all three ceremonies, but he reserved the biggest smile for the third, and most celebrated, union between Oliver and Isabel Queen. As the priest, a father Joseph Brandon, walked the youngest couple through their wedding ceremony, Isabel couldn't help but think about how the priest had recognized her the night before, during the wedding rehearsal, as "little Isabel" from many years ago, all grown up. Father Brandon had actually taken Isabel off to the side after the rehearsal and told her that he had always wondered about what had happened to the little girl in his congregation whose foster family had died, and he was glad that Isabel had done so well for herself since then. The priest had then spoken to Oliver as well, telling the blonde man that: "I sincerely hope that you take care of this woman, Mr. Queen." The priest's laughter did nothing to hide the serious look in the older man's eyes, and Oliver had nodded and promised that he would. After that exchange, just before Team Arrow and their friends and families had left to go to the rehearsal dinner (which had sadly been cut short when Team Arrow had to stop China), Father Brandon had smiled and said that "I know that neither one of you are currently members of my congregation, but if either of you need any kind of advice, relational, spiritual, or whatever, feel free to call me and we can set up a nice chat."

Although Oliver had quickly told the priest that "wouldn't be necessary", Isabel had remained silent on the matter, and the brunette had silently wondered if she, Oliver, and father Brandon should schedule a chat sometime about a recent experience Isabel had that she couldn't explain…when she had spoken to her long dead biological mother for the first time after the Midnight Sentinel's most recent death on a flight back to Starling City from Nanda Parbat. That experience had changed Isabel in ways she couldn't quite define, and, although she still couldn't ever see herself becoming a very religious person who attended church regularly, she considered herself a more spiritual person now. And since Isabel hadn't yet found a way to articulate her recent experience, or its effect on her, to Oliver, Isabel hoped that her old family's friend could help her and Oliver make a little more sense with what she had experienced…

All such thoughts left Isabel Rochev-Queen's head when she saw her impeccably dressed husband (who, yes, she had seen dressed that way earlier, and at two earlier weddings, but damn it, Oliver made that tux look good!) waiting for her at the altar, and judging by the look that Oliver was giving her now that she was in her wedding dress, Oliver thought she looked just as good. Isabel simply smiled as she slowly walked towards the altar, and Isabel silently thanked Laurel and Thea for helping her choose this wedding's dress, which was still tasteful, but a tad more…revealing that the wedding dresses she had chosen for the last two weddings. The priest merely chuckled when he noticed that the last betrothed couple of the day still couldn't take their eyes off of each other after Isabel reached the altar, an action which made both Oliver and Isabel blush before they finally looked at father Brandon before he started the ceremony. The ceremony itself was simple, and both Oliver and Isabel knew the steps by heart at this point. The priest going over the meaning of marriage, the various "I do's", the exchanging of rings (Connor was once again, the ring bearer, although the child had admitted that, after serving this role twice before already, "I really want this to be the last time though. Doing this ring stuff is starting to get boring!"), and then…the vows…

Oliver and Isabel had smiles on their faces throughout the ceremony, but each of them kept make subtle glances around the church, waiting for something to go wrong before they could finally exchange the vows they had made for the occasion and make their happily ever after official. But finally, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the time finally came as the priest simply stated. "And this couple has written their own vows to exchange today."

Oliver took a deep breath, and despite still being slightly hung over (although he hid it very well) looked Isabel right in her hazel eyes and rattled his well-rehearsed, but heartfelt, vows of without a single misstep. "Isabel, when I first came back to Starling after being stranded on that island, I was a shell of the man I once was, weighted down with the guilt from the things I had done when I was an irresponsible boy before that fateful shipwreck, and deeply traumatized and distrustful of others, to the point that I was emotionally distant from everyone. But when I met you, even though it wasn't under ideal circumstances, I knew that you were special, and that you would have an impact on my life, even if I didn't yet know what that was. And you eventually proved me right after you somehow made your way into my heart, which I had tried so hard to keep shut because of my fear of getting close to anyone else. I'll admit I tried to fight my feelings for you at first, using any excuse I could come up with to stay emotionally distant from you, but you never gave up on me, never stopped fighting for us. As a result, after some hesitation, I finally opened up to you, as well as to my family and friends. And my life, and the lives of everyone I love, has been so much better for you being in it…" Oliver snuck a quick glance at both Connor, who was sitting next to Thea, and Natasha, who was in Thea's lap, causing Isabel to smirk before Oliver continued speaking. "And I can never thank you enough for that. But I do promise to return the favor. That I will never stop fighting for us, our relationship, and our family. And I promise you that whatever comes our way, health or sickness, wealth or poverty, any highs or lows life may through our way, I will stand by you through all of it. And I will always love you and do my best to support you and made you happy. For eternity or the end of time. Whichever comes last."

This last statement was answered by laughter from the crowd, but there few dry eyes in the cathedral after that, and Isabel's hazel orbs were filled with happy tears as she looked into Oliver's gray ones and said her own vows. "Oliver, when I met you, I was in a…a dark place in my life. A place where I felt hurt and abandoned for a lot of different reasons, and I had vowed that I would never let myself love anyone ever again, because losing people I cared about hurt too much. But then I met you, and my resolve to stay emotionally distant from you instantly weakened. As time went by, and I saw what a kind and attentive and compassionate person you were, I found myself breaking my promise to stay distant from others, and I fell for you despite myself. And I haven't regretted it since. Because from day one, you saw something in me. Not the cold, distant person I was, but the person I could become, and even when our relationship got rough, you never stopped believing in me. Since then, although you have always loved me for who I am, you have never stopped challenging me to be a better person. And for that, among many other reasons, including your passion for life, your compassion for others, and your intelligence, I will always love you. You make me…better, Oliver. Spending time with you has made me a better, kinder, and more compassionate person. And for that, I promise to always love you, stand by you through any trial, and remind you of what a wonderful person you are, while always encouraging you to never stop believing in your ability to become even better, just as you have done for me, forever."

The priest simply smiled then and said. "Then by the power invested in me, I pronounce you man and wife. Oliver, you may now kiss the bride."

But it was Isabel who quickly kissed Oliver first, and although their kiss was more subdued than during their wedding at Nanda Parbat, at ten seconds, it was still a little bit longer than the osculation should have lasted in polite company. However, when Moira (who was now seated with Walter and her other family members {sans Oliver and Isabel} after her and Walter's wedding ceremony had ended, tried to cover Connor's eyes again, her blond grandchild just rolled his eyes and said, "Please. It's not like dad and Isabel don't do stuff like this all the time at home!" This reply caused Isabel, who heard the child who had adopted her as his "mommy" with her superior hearing, to pull away from Oliver's osculation and blush slightly, even as some of the members of the Queen family laughed at Connor's words, while Anna Jones, whose entire family had been invited to both Queen weddings (and by extension, Diggle and Lyla's ceremony), squeezed Connor's shoulder slightly, from her seat behind the Queen family, for a brief second and gave the second youngest Queen a small smile that the little boy returned, to the puzzlement of all of the other members of Queen and Jones families, except for little Natasha, who smirked and said nothing as she sat in Thea's lap.

However, as Thea chuckled, like everybody else, at her family member's antics, she also looked around. Seriously looked at the small group of people around here, which seemed to be growing by the day, of people she called family. There was Ollie, of course, and her mother. But Thea realized that she also had Tommy, and Connor and Natasha, as well as Isabel and Walter (again) in her family now, and that she even considered every member of Team Arrow to be close enough for her to call "family" now, to the point that Felicity, Sara and Laurel, who had backed her up on many missions but also given her advice on her relationship with Roy, were like sisters to Oliver's younger sibling. John Diggle was like a stern uncle who would call her on it when she did something stupid in the field, but would still offer to buy her and the rest of the team beer afterwards and have a few laughs, just to let Thea know his comments hadn't been personal attacks. And Roy…Thea smiled as she looked at the ring and small diamond on her left hand, as well as her fiancée, who she had been close to for a long time. Roy was soon going to be an official member of her family. Thea continued to smile, even as she mentally acknowledged that her family was a strange one with a history of vigilantes, half siblings, multiple marriages, friends that had, for a long time, been closer to her than her biological family, and yeah, the occasional recent grudge and bad decision or fifty. Without at least one of which she wouldn't even exist. But none of her family's strangeness or history bothered her anymore, and even though Thea knew that Jerry Springer would probably have a field day with the extended Queen family if the man ever knew their story, Thea didn't care. Because her family was weird, but it was hers, and Thea loved everyone in it. And as Miss Queen looked at the Queen family's smiling faces, especially those of Oliver and Isabel, who couldn't stop staring at each other and beaming in happiness and relief that they had **finally** gotten legally wed, while everyone around them, even Moira, looked happy for the "newly married couple", Thea knew that love would be more than enough to keep her strange family together.

* * *

The reception at a local five star restaurant was a quick one, only lasting for about 2 hours, as everyone had places to go afterward. Moira and Walter were going to have a brief weekend-long honeymoon in Metropolis, Lyla and John Diggle were going back to their jobs at Argus, and Oliver and Isabel were going to catch up on a long overdue honeymoon in the Bahamas for a week while their children's nanny, Thea, and Moira all took turns taking care of Connor and Natasha. The first part of the reception involved the cutting of the cake (since everyone had been told to eat lunch before the ceremony, and dinner would be served at the after party for all the guests), which all three "newly married couples" did simultaneously before they all feed each other cake, before allowing everyone else to have a slice (although Isabel gave Connor and wink as she cut off a chocolate slice of the half, vanilla, half chocolate cake before anybody who hadn't gotten married that day could get a slice).

The dances between the married couples were next (since none of today's brides had living fathers, the usual father daughter/dance had never been in the itinerary, so the freed up time was used to allow every married couple to have their own private dance). The dance between Diggle and Lyla was short and fun, as they danced and laughed along with some pop tunes from the 90's, about a man being the one that would always take care of the of the one he loved, that had always been one of Lyla's guilty pleasures, while the wedding song that Walter picked to dance to with Moira was a slower, more romantic jazz song from the 30's about a woman that the singer would always love and come back to. But Oliver and Isabel's wedding song was different from both of the others that were played that day, as the beat was more modern than even Diggle and Lyla's number, but just as serious as the one that Walter and Moira had chosen. The youngest married couple of the day danced as the recorded voice of a young performer sing about how "people fall in love in mysterious ways" that reminded Oliver and Isabel of each other every time they heard it, and they continued dancing as they ruminated on the strange truth that the two of them had found love in each other, right where they were, when they least expected it. However, when the performer declared that he would love his significant other "until we're 70", Oliver and Isabel, without thinking about it, simultaneously corrected with a whispered, "forever", an action which made both the Arrow and the Midnight Sentinel smile widely as they looked into each other's eyes and briefly forget about everyone else in the room, and even the music that was playing, as evidenced by the fact that the young couple continued dancing for about 30 seconds after the song was playing, to the amusement of the rest of the wedding . Even then, Isabel only reluctantly allowed Oliver to pull away from her, and she gave her husband a smoldering look that suggested that she and Oliver would continue what they'd started on the dance floor in the their bedroom on the Queen jet tonight.

The toasts were an equally brief affair, complete with Moira declaring how proud she was of how much her son had grown up in recent years and married a woman that loved him and helped the Queen family grow. Thea and Oliver had also talked up Moira and Walter's nuptials, and Oliver in particular had said that, "Although I was uncomfortable with your presence in my home when I first got back from the island, out of the mistaken belief that you were trying to replace my father, I realized long ago that was not the case, but that you were someone that Thea and I can trust and depend on, as well as someone that loves my mother and makes her happy. I am proud to call you my step-father. To my mom and Walter!" Everyone had cheered and drank after Oliver finished that toast, and when Oliver toasted Diggle and Lyla's wedding, talking about how "In recent years, especially during Tommy Merlyn's recent disappearance and amnesiac episode, nobody has been a more reliable friend to me than John Diggle. I am glad that you are my friend, and I wish you and Lyla all the happiness in the world and a very long marriage. To new beginnings!"

But it was John Diggle toast to Oliver and Isabel's marriage that was the most memorable as Diggle had stood up, smiled, and said. "Well, Oliver. Isabel. You and a lot of our friends were wondering if this day would ever come, but you finally got married this time!" After a bit of strained laughter, Diggle continued in a more serious voice. "But seriously though, Oliver, you have been a great friend to me for many years, and you and I have helped each other through a lot of hard times. I will admit though, when I first heard that you were dating Isabel, I wasn't sure what to think about that decision." Diggle turned to Isabel. "But you proved me wrong, as you stood by my friend at every turn, become a part of his family as you and Oliver have raised two great kids together, and over time, you became my friend too. Oliver choose well when he decided to marry you. To Isabel and Oliver Queen!"

Shortly after that toast was completed, it was time for all of the married couples to leave the building, and they were seen off by their friends and loved ones in the usual ceremonial fashion as the three couples had rice thrown at them as they left the restaurant. However, on their way to their limo, Oliver and Isabel stopped to hug Connor and Natasha, and promised to be back in one week.

However, once Oliver and Isabel were in the back of the limo, their thoughts were completely on each other as the "finally" married couple gave each other a mutual look of love and lust as they silently communicated a message to each other about what they both wanted right this instant. And the voice of their driver didn't disrupt their thoughts of each other one bit as the 30-something bald man in the driver's seat smiled. "I suppose you two are anxious to get to your jet and get your honeymoon started, Mr. and Mrs. Queen? Shall I take a shortcut to get you to the runway?"

Isabel smirked. "Actually, if you wouldn't mind, could you take a scenic route to the jet? Take your time."

The driver looked puzzled for a second until Oliver added. "And please keep all the tinted windows up during the ride there, including the one between you and us. My new wife and I don't want to be disturbed until we get to the jet. Oh, and you might want to play some music really loud too."

The driver smiled. "Yes sir. I'll just take the long way around the city then. Have fun."

After the driver had rolled down the window between him and the newly married couple before turning on some song Oliver didn't know and turning it up to maximum volume, Isabel immediately pounced on Oliver and gave him a major lip lock for almost 30 seconds before she breathed. "I thought that man would never leave us alone!"

Her blonde husband smiled. "I know what you mean. By the way…" he added as Isabel took of his belt and started unbuttoning his pants. "Are you sure this is a good idea? If we do this now, in close quarters like this, we'll probably end up ruining your wedding dress…"

Isabel just raised her eyebrow at Oliver before she said. "Dresses can be repaired. But I haven't made love to my new husband in two weeks, and that is too damn long. We've waited long enough to start our new lives together, and starting a marriage by joining the mile-high club feels pretty over-rated at this point, although we will definitely be doing that soon."

Oliver just nodded in agreement as he practically tore Isabel's dress and underwear off, as his wife did the same with his clothes, and soon Oliver and Isabel were making love for what felt like the first time. And right then and there, as Oliver and Isabel were joined as one, the former reaffirmed his promise to himself that he would love and stand by Isabel for the rest of his life, and he desperately hoped for two things. One, that his life with Isabel would be a long and happy one. And two, that his family's new driver would take his time getting him and Isabel to the Queen jet.

 **AN: Okay, first things first. I apologize for waiting so long to post another chapter, but I hope the length of this chapter, which should be the second-to-last chapter in the story, makes up for it. Thanks, as always, goes out to all my readers and reviewers, who have encouraged me to continue writing this story until I reach my Olibel trilogy's conclusion. A special thank you goes out to everyone who reviewed either, or both of the last two chapter I posted, including Pootamis, Phillipe363, kindleflame5, Troll99, nzOptimist, and highlander 348 (who I again borrowed some story ideas from. Thanks again!).**

 **A few other things to address here. It was not my intention to support and/or bash Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy in this chapter, I simply thought that some of the former's doctrines concerning divorce, as well as the death of the Catholic priest in my story, would help move all the weddings in this chapter to a new location. Also, the spiritual issues that Isabel contemplates in this chapter as a result of her vision are also meant for entertainment purpose only. No offense is meant to anyone.**

 **Thank you for all your reader feedback concerning the rating of my story (something I am always paranoid about), but for right now, I have decided not to change the rating.**

 **Thanks again go out to all my readers, especially my beta reader, without whom the task of writing these humble fanfics well would be almost as difficult for me as holding the world on my shoulders like Atlas. Your help is greatly appreciated! Until next time, I am…**

 **-supercode**

 **P.S. extra no-points go to any of my readers who can figure out the song Oliver and Isabel dance to in this chapter, the rights of which I do not own!**


	9. Epilogues

Epilogue 1

Oliver Queen let out a sigh when he opened his eyes, which were almost as gray as his silver hair and the small bit of stubble on his face (the Arrow almost laughed when he remembered that he had toyed with the idea of growing it out into a beard again at one point when he was in his early 40's, but Isabel had shot down that idea when she said that, "A little facial hair makes you look manly, Oliver. But, judging some of the pictures of you right after you were rescued from the island, I have to say that a beard just made you look like a crazy wild man."), to the sight of a familiar white void. "Oliver Prime" smirked once again as he surveyed his surrounding, including all of the younger Oliver Queens around him, then tried to suppress a frown when he noticed that "feather cap" Oliver was nowhere in sight this time, nor were any of the other Oliver Queens he had met on his first visit to this strange place. Which meant that he was the oldest Oliver here, and the duties of explaining how the various versions of himself could make use of this place fell on him.

Oliver Prime tried not to think about what had happened to feather cap, shades, or any of the other versions of himself that he had met the first time here, much less what had happened to Dark Arrow, who had also not been present at this place the second time that Oliver Prime had been forced to visit here. That last visit had occurred after a bomb blast set in place to kill him and Connor years ago had exploded, causing the Arrow to lose consciousness in the "real world" due to the bits of shrapnel that had just missed several main arteries in his body. An elderly Feather Cap, an older looking Shades, and Oliver Prime, the only versions of Oliver that had met before, had decided that Dark Arrow had probably been killed by an enemy or died due to a combination of old age and stress. But Oliver Prime privately thought that suicide was just as likely an explanation.

Oliver Prime shook all such thoughts aside while briefly noting that he was now clothed in the newest version of his Arrow costume, which sported many improvements over the original, including League of Assassin armor (underneath the costume itself), flame resistant cloth, with a light-weight, unbreakable bow made of an adamantium alloy that could bend, but not break (which Oliver had picked up in yet another alternate universe very different from his own on one the Justice League's more…bizarre adventures) and 100 different arrows (including shock, explosive, laser, boomerang, and even arrows that shrink people), courtesy of the miniaturization…something or other (Oliver still didn't understand how it worked) inside the quiver Ray Palmer had made for him years ago, which basically made his arrows smaller and lighter until he pulled them out of their quiver.

Oliver Prime decided that it was a good thing he had somehow been brought to this place fully clothed, instead of arriving in the birthday suit he had peacefully fallen asleep in just before arriving here, but he still cursed the multiverses' timing for taking him away from the loving embrace of his perpetually young and loving wife, even for a few hours, on the night before he officially announced his retirement from vigilante life to the world. But then Oliver Prime smirked slightly at the sight of the numerous newbie versions of himself around him, many of whom were loudly gossiping about where they were and why they were here, and thought that at least he could exploit the perk of being the oldest hero in the room (which he had been numerous times before in his reality) one last time: being able to tell all the young bloods what to do.

"Alright! Alright! That's enough senseless chit chat! We don't have much time here, so let me give all of you haven't been here yet, which includes everyone but Mr. Clean and Goliath to my immediate right…" Oliver Prime pointed to two younger looking versions of himself which were bald and seven feet tall, respectfully. "The basics. I don't know where we are or how we got here, but as someone who has been here twice before, I have a pretty good idea why we are here…to give all of the different versions of Oliver Queen, and yes, we are all, more or less, the same people from different universes, advice on how to handle whatever situations we are in the middle of right now. Now here's how this is going to work…."

Oliver Prime then laid out the same rules for discourse in the white void that Feather Cap had given him and many other versions of himself years ago. Each Oliver would tell the others only the name they wanted to called, problem they were having, and whomever they were in a relationship with at the time. The other Olivers quickly fell in line and started sharing the challenges they were facing, many of which were similar to threats Oliver Prime himself had faced before: such as the Dark Archer, Darkseid or Mister Mxyzptlk (all the Olivers that had met him hated that annoying imp). However, some versions of himself had also faced threats from other realities that Oliver thought sounded familiar, although he couldn't quite place where he had heard about them before, such as something called the Borg, and also a species called Daleks. Most of the time, though, at least one version of Oliver Queen would be able to come up with a solution to the challenges each archer was facing…just like Oliver Prime's first two visits to the void.

The relationships the various Olivers were in were also equally predictable, for the most part. Many Olivers were still with Laurel, a few were seeing Felicity, and many were between relationships. However, as always, there were a few Olivers in relationships that were a little more…odd. Oliver Wayne, also known as Bat Arrow (a version of Oliver that had been adopted by a childless version of Thomas and Martha Wayne after their dear friends Moira and Robert Queen had died in a boating accident when he was a baby…only to have his adoptive parents gunned down in front of him when he was twelve years old) was in a relationship with Talia al Ghul (Oliver Prime didn't see that ending well, but he said nothing), an Oliver Queen that was slightly shorter than the others was completely asexual (a revelation that pretty much floored every other version of Oliver in the void) and one Oliver with spiked-up hair was even seeing Carrie Cutter, aka Cupid. Again, Oliver Prime decided to say nothing.

Finally, after every version of himself had gotten the chance to speak, only Oliver Prime's words remained to be heard by the others. Bat Arrow noticed this immediately. The man wearing the dark outfit, complete with a set of body armor that was emblazed with the symbol of a bat interposed on top of an arrow, a cowl mask with pointed ears at the top, a bow and quiver on his back, and a utility belt that had numerous batarangs and flechetts hanging on the outside of it for easy access, spoke as he looked at his older counterpart warily. "What about you? What do you call yourself and what is your story? Being the most experienced vigilante here, you have been able to provide us all invaluable advice concerning the threats we are all facing, such as my current struggle against the Red Hood. But you haven't actually told us anything about yourself."

Oliver Prime sighed before speaking to the others. There was a reason he always elected to talk last during all of these strange gatherings with these other versions of himself. "Me? I came up with the handle 'Oliver Prime' the first time I came to this place, for lack of any better ideas. But honestly, there isn't anything special about me, other than the fact that to have the right combination of friends, allies, loved ones, and favorable circumstances to survive this long, despite my own stubbornness and pride. The truth is, I have no great challenge ahead of me at the moment. I haven't actually been in the hero business on a full time basis in over a decade, but I have been helping the newest generation of heroes from time to time as the Arrow. But that ends tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my 60th birthday, and I will be publicly putting up the Hood for good. I've finally earned a little peace and R&R. I think I owe that to myself, my family, and to my wife, Isabel Rochev-Queen, without whom I wouldn't have survived half as long as I have."

Oliver Prime waited for some kind of reaction to that last statement, but for several seconds, his words were met only with silence. Oliver Prime was puzzled. He had not been expecting that reaction. He **had** expected criticism, jeers, and insults from his contemporaries concerning his decision to be in a relationship with, let alone marry, Isabel Rochev. That had been the reaction of all of the other Olivers, save Feather Cap, Dark Arrow (the first time Oliver Prime had been in the white void), and Shades (the second time) during his last two visits to this place. But as Oliver Prime looked at all the young faces of the men around him who were almost, but not quite, him, seeing the shocked, indifferent (in Mr. Clean and Goliath's cases), and contemplative (in Bat Arrow's case) looks they were giving him, Oliver Prime realized why that was not happening this time. He was the oldest one here. The survivor. The one that all of the other versions of himself had been looking to for wisdom ever since they arrived here. Therefore, if any version of himself felt disgust or anger over Oliver Prime's relationship choices, they either didn't feel they had the right, or just didn't have the guts to, say so to his face.

With one exception.

After many moments of silence, Spike (the version of himself who was dating Cupid) approached Oliver Prime with a sneer on his face and spoke. "Are you serious?! You actually married Ice Queen Rochev!? Do you have any idea what that bitch-whore had done, or rather, who she has done?! She…"

But Bat Arrow, seeing that Oliver Prime was clenching his teeth in his mouth and balling his hands into fists, quickly put one of his black-gloved hands onto Spike's right shoulder. "I think you'll find that now would be a good time to stop talking. In case you haven't been listening, each version of us here has at least a slightly different story than the others, and even the same people can play very different roles, and make different choices, than they did in your universe. So why don't you be quiet and let the most experienced person in the room have the benefit of a doubt concerning his relationship choices before you end up saying anything else you will regret?"

Spike reluctantly nodded after Bat Arrow removed his arm from the younger man's shoulder, while Oliver Prime unclenched his teeth and fist before sending a small nod of thanks to Bat Arrow. The older man than turned looked at all of his younger counterparts in turn while he spoke. "Yes, yes, I think we have all heard enough stories today to know a little about Isabel's… history, and to know that in many realities, including my own, she was once the associate of Deathstroke. But I'm the only me here who knows my Isabel. The Isabel who turned on Deathstroke decades ago and helped me defeat him, saving the lives of our loved ones, and on several occasions, myself, in the process. Because she fell in love with me, and I with her. The Isabel who helped me raise Connor Hawke (who is our son, by the way, and those of you didn't know he existed before now might want to go looking for him after you get back to your lives), who considered Isabel his second mom after his first one died. And none of the rest of you know the Isabel who gave birth to Natasha, our daughter in my timeline. The woman who helped both of my children become heroes in their own right when they grew up. The woman who I am still married to decades after my relationship with her started. None of you know that Isabel, just like I don't know why you, Spike, fell for 'crazy Carrie.'

"Yeah, Spike!" Another Oliver with a blue costume chimed in. "If you're so smart, why did you start a relationship with Cupid, stupid?!

Spike glared, first at Oliver Prime, then the other Oliver who had criticized his choice to date Carrie Cutter, but it was Oliver Prime himself who spoke before Spike was able to spit out an angry reply. "That's actually none of your business, Blue Arrow. Or mine. That's the point I was trying to make with Spike, here. 'Let each man tend his own guardian' and all that. That's not my line, but I heard it from somewhere. Someone famous wrote it. I think. It doesn't matter. The point stands…"

Oliver Prime looked at Spike. "The point is, you don't know my circumstance, or my Isabel, just like I don't know your life. Your Carrie Cutter. Don't judge me for my choices, and I'll extend the same courtesy to you."

Spike nodded. "Right. Sorry."

Oliver Prime half-smiled. "Apology accepted."

The oldest Arrow in the void turned towards the other version of himself as he spoke. "There is so much more I would like to tell all of you. Lessons I've learned about being a good hero, and more importantly, being a good man, for I've learned that it's very hard to be the former without being the latter. But I can already sense that we are running out of time in this place…"

Some of the other Arrows nodded, as every Oliver in the void could feel a strange pulling sensation building up inside them. It was faint, for now, but the pull was rapidly becoming stronger, and they all instinctively knew that their time in the white void was almost up. Oliver Prime continued speaking. "So I will only leave you with one piece of advice, as well as a…personal request. My advice is this, don't push the people you love, the people that love you, away. Without our friends, family, and loved ones, we are nothing, and any one of us could very easily go insane, or end up dead, if we fail to reach out to those who care about us and keep them safe…"

Oliver Prime thought of Dark Arrow for a second before he continued speaking. "And as for my personal requests…" The eldest Oliver looked pointedly at the younger versions of himself around him. "For all of you that have not met, or at least, haven't defeated, Isabel Rochev yet. Watch your back around her, remember her motivations, her dark alliance, and her personal history, but…give her a chance to redeem herself, a chance to change for the better. Because I have seen many versions of myself come and go through this place and from what I've seen, mine is the only universe were Isabel's life doesn't have a tragic ending. And I think that we can do better. That the multiverse can do better. Because I have seen firsthand that Isabel has the capacity to be a good person, if she is given the opportunity. And I would like all of you to at least give her that option before trying to put an arrow through her chest…"

Oliver Prime wanted to say so much more. He wanted to tell the others about all the ways that his Isabel had been there for him and his family. How she had mentored Thea until she and her husband Roy Harper-Queen had decided they were ready to set off on their own and be heroes in their own right. Oliver Prime's sister and brother in-law had then moved to New York City to start a new Verdant location in New York City and started to protect the Big Apple as Artemis and Arsenal, eventually becoming founding members of a superhero team called the Titans before the couple had retired from crime fighting years ago to take care of their fraternal twins, Shado and Robert, who had recently become the vigilantes known as Speedy and the newest Red Arrow.

Oliver Prime had also wanted to tell the others more about his two children, which he and Isabel had raised together over the years. How Connor had, for the most part, been a great kid growing up, never once wanting to stray from the path his parents and grandmother had set for him to become the next CEO of Queen Consolidated, a role that he had eventually inherited from Oliver as his step-mom (who had long since been outed as an ageless meta-human by then) continued serving as Co-CEO, but Connor had been headstrong in his insistence that he would follow in his older family member's footsteps and become a superhero himself one day…so Oliver and Isabel had reluctantly started training Connor to be a vigilante when he was in his early teens, although he was forbidden from field work at the time. In the meantime, Connor-Hawke Queen and Anna Jones continued spending the majority of their free time together…too much time, the Jones had decided, after Connor and Anna had started calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend around sixth grade. This set of circumstances made Anna's adoptive parents fear that spending time around Oliver's son was making their little girl grow up to fast, and the concerned parents had forbidden Anna to spend time with Connor any more, and asked Oliver and Isabel to make sure their son steered clear of their daughter as well.

This, as it turned out, had been a very bad idea.

While Anna had "adjusted" to her parents forcefully splitting her and Connor up by isolating herself from others and focusing most of her free time on keeping her grades up and her goal to become a doctor, the more charismatic Connor Queen had gone a different route: trying to fill the void that Anna's departure from his life (apart from the rare moments that Connor could sneak away from his parents and the Queen mansion to see Anna at her home): becoming a "serial monogamist". Like his father had done in his youth, Connor "tried to play the field" in an apparent attempt to date as many girls as possible between the younger Queen's 12th and 20th years of life. Unlike his father, Connor did not cheat on any of his "girlfriends" (if they could be called that), because Oliver and Isabel, determined that neither of their children would repeat their mistakes, had repeatedly stressed the importance of fidelity in relationships to both Connor and Natasha. Connor also made better grades than Oliver had when he was young. But the fact remained that Connor ended up dating over a dozen different girls between sixth grade and his sophomore year of high school, and his longest relationship during this time period lasted only 2 months. For even though all of the girls that Connor dated during this period of his life were pretty, and all but one of them was nice (Connor broke up with the one that turned out not to be nice after only 3 days), they all had one major flaw in Connor's mind: none of them were Anna.

Thankfully, despite the fact that Anna and Connor ended up going to colleges across the country from each other, the two of them were eventually reunited. Unfortunately, it had taken a bomb blast, the same blast that had wounded Oliver badly enough to end his full-time career as the Arrow, nearly killing Connor, who had become the newest Red Arrow, to make that happen. Forewarned by Natasha (after Connor's younger sister had one of her many premonitions) of a vague "accident" that Connor would be involved in, Anna had surprised everyone by meeting a stoic looking (but inwardly panicking) Isabel, as well as a badly injured Oliver Queen, and an even worse off Connor, who had lost a lot of blood already, at the Arrow Cave, with several medical instruments already out. Knowing that there wasn't time to get Connor to an actual hospital, Isabel had reluctantly agreed to let Anna treat Connor and Oliver, despite the red haired woman's limited medical training. As Anna stabilized Oliver and operated on Connor's more serious wound using the skills she had so far accumulated as a Senior (for she had taken several college classes in high school and tested out of several others) at one of the finest medical school in the country, Anna explained how Natasha had told her to come here in order to help Connor. She also described how she had immediately left the East Coast and taken a red-eye flight to Starling in order to save Connor, because, according to the cryptic prophecy that Natasha (who had suddenly started calling herself "Destiny" over a year ago) had made, Anna's childhood sweetheart would die without her help.

Anna had been able to save Connor (who had shortly thereafter taken on the mantle of the Green Arrow to fill his father's shoes when it became apparent Oliver was no longer in good enough shape to be a full time hero) of course. But Anna was only able to do so with the help of Natasha, Connor's only living relative with the same blood type (the most recently deceased member of the Queen family with the same blood type being Robert Queen). Natasha had "coincidentally" shown up at the Arrow Cave just in time for Anna to transfer some of Natasha's blood to Connor, a procedure that save Connor's life, but at a cost. After the transfusion, Connor gained the same healing factor (but none of the magical abilities or superior senses) that his mother and half-sister (who had developed her healing ability at age six) had…and the same inability to age. This put something of a damper on Connor's feelings of elation when he and Anna quickly got back together after the former's near death experience (after Anna decided to complete her medical studies in Starling), and got married a year later, since Connor knew he would someday have to watch Anna die, even though their only child, Felicity Queen, would later inherit her father's immortality. However, there was one other benefit that the blood transfusion had given Connor and Natasha, a psychic connection through which the two siblings were now able to communicate their thoughts to each other at will. Connor and Natasha had become closer siblings and friends after that, closer than most half siblings, for sure, and in the younger siblings' stranger seasons of life, Connor was often the only one who understood what Natasha was thinking or feeling.

And for a time, Natasha had gotten strange indeed. As the child prodigy (who had to be home schooled by one of the greatest academic tutors in the world, since Natasha was so far ahead of not only all of her peers, but also many of her teachers, in her academic studies, and acing such classes had become increasingly easy, and boring, to Oliver and Isabel's offspring) grew up, she became more and more isolated from the world, spending most of her time learning from her tutors (as Constantine had trained Natasha to use magic) reading by herself, or writing down the strange premonitions that she had with greater and greater frequency, in much detail. Eventually, around the girl's fifteenth birthday, it had become hard for even the Queen family or Constantine to talk to Natasha, who was constantly wrapped up in visions of both the past and future, to the point that Natasha had become too distracted by her visions to cast all but the simplest of spells. And by the end of her seventeenth year of life, Natasha had refused to speak to anyone, and only Connor's pleas on her behalf, and his insistence that Natasha still talked to him constantly through the telepathic link he and his half-sister shared, and that Natasha would soon be done working through her issues on her own, had kept a very worried Oliver and Isabel from having their daughter committed. Instead, Natasha's parents had seen to their distracted genius daughter's physical needs, making sure she ate, slept, bathed, etc., and prayed to whoever was listening for a miracle to bring their daughter's mind back to the real world.

That miracle had come in the form of a literal "bolt from the blue" (red, really) on the day that Oliver Queen met one of the most annoying (at the time) people that he would ever know: Bart Allen.

Bart, who had given himself the code name. "Impulse", was Barry and Felicity Allen's descendant from the future who had been sent back in time in order to receive training from his ancestor in order to better control his own super speed, and super short attention span. A task that Barry had reluctantly agreed to help Bart with. It was during this time period that Impulse got the bright idea to drop by the Queen mansion to say "hi" to the family of one of the original (for according to both Bart and Natasha, there would be many more) Flash's closest allies: Oliver Queen. And somewhere between Coast and Starling City, Impulse got another "bright" idea concerning how to greet the original Green Arrow (future history was a little fuzzy on the handle of the original green hooded vigilante). Bart had acted on that…inclination by saying "hello" to Oliver Queen…with a pie to the Arrow's face, thrown at super speed.

Oliver Queen had nearly gotten out his old bow and arrow and winged the speedster right then and there…until Natasha, who had arrived in the living room where Bart and Oliver had been standing, did something unexpected.

For the first time since she was five years old, Natasha Queen had burst out laughing. And Oliver would be damned if that action on his daughter's part didn't make him like Bart right away.

Oliver Queen, pie still dripping of his face and suit, could only stare in amazement when, as if by magic, a light that had been absent from his daughter's often glazed over eyes for years returned to her gray orbs as Natasha laughed for almost a minute straight while her father stood still in stock silence. Meanwhile, a suddenly bashful Bart Allen had fidgeted nervously at near light speeds. Finally, for the first time in years, Natasha Queen extended her arm in greeting towards a stranger and shook Bart's hand, and it didn't escape either Oliver or Natasha's notice that Impulse was blushing while the Arrow and Midnight Sentinel's daughter smiled and said. "It's nice to meet you Bart Allen. You're my favorite Flash."

Bart's eyes had widened at that as he stuttered out. "I'm not…not…the Flash."

Natasha had only smiled enigmatically at that. "Not yet. But you will be someday. And you and I will be seeing a lot of each other, I think."

Impulse continued to be one of the most annoying people Oliver had ever known for the next two years, except in front of Natasha, whom he kept trying to put on a suave and dashing act around, but always ended up growing bored and acting like a clown anyway. But Oliver put up with Impulse's frequent visits, and the young speedster and Natasha's mutual flirting, because Natasha seemed most alive when she was around Bart. Eventually, however, shortly after Barry Allen died saving the multiverse from a large crisis, forcing Bart to grow up and take on the mantle of the Flash himself, Bart Allen had worked up the nerve to ask Natasha on an actual date. The clairvoyant and the speedster had gotten married six months later…shortly after Natasha found out she was pregnant because of Bart…and Oliver had privately threatened to kill Bart if he didn't take care of his daughter and grandchild, and the speedster had stood up to Oliver for the first time and said he wouldn't dream of doing anything else. It had turned out that Natasha had been pregnant with triplets, and that all three of their children, Anatoli, Peter, and Anastasia, were gifted. Anatoli was a speedster, Peter had inherited some of his mom's mystical abilities, and Anastasia had a healing factor. And Bart and Natasha were raising each of their children to be heroes…and fine people.

All in all, Oliver Prime couldn't be more proud of the how his children and grandchildren, many of whom were friend with the children of Laurel and Tommy, who had tied the know years ago were turning out. But Oliver Prime knew there wasn't time for him to share those stories with the other versions of himself. The older man chuckled as he realized that, if the younger version of himself were anything like he had been when he was their age, they would probably be bored to tears by the stories of an old man talking about how great his children and grandchildren are. So instead of saying another word, Oliver Prime just closed his eyes and waited for whatever it was that brought him here to bring him home to his universe, and the warmth of the bed he shared with Isabel. After all, his wife's eternally youthful body still had a very active libido in the mornings. And even though Oliver Prime's stamina wasn't what it once was, both he and Isabel still thoroughly enjoyed every morning they woke up together. Not just for sex…but the lovemaking sessions certainly contributed to that. In any case, Oliver Prime was just anxious to get back to his own world and see his family again…and tell Isabel about his latest trip to the white void, since his wife always found such tales interesting.

So it would have come as no surprise to Oliver Prime if any of his doppelgangers had told him that he had a large smile on his face just before he promptly disappeared from their view.

* * *

….Epilogue Two…

New Starling City

Isabel Rochev-Queen kept her face firmly out of view beneath a ratty looking cloak as she pushed her way through the large crowd of cult members that were gathered around the New Queen Manor. The large stone building was actually the third mansion to have that name after the first two dwellings of the Queen family had been destroyed. The first Queen mansion was blown up by a bomb set by the Joker. And the second mansion was decimated by a rip in the fabric of space time caused by yet another threat to reality that one incarnation of the Justice League, an organization her husband had helped found, and had actually led for a couple of years before an alien named Kal-El had become chairmen of that organization, had stopped almost a century ago. The eternally youthful brunette was almost to the door of the 150 year old dwelling of the House of the Arrow when she was recognized by one of the people in the crowd who pointed right at her. "It's her! The Mother!"

Isabel huffed in annoyance as over a hundred people, made up of numerous species, including humans, White Martian, Atlanteans, Amazonians, and even Neo Kryptonians, bunched around her, hindering the brunette's walk towards her home, and a very important appointment. The well-meaning, but woefully misinformed mass of people then began throwing numerous gifts, such as sprits of ridiculously expensive perfume, galactic credits, and even precious gems in Isabel's direction while many fell to the ground and started to chant. "All praise to the Mother of Destiny, whose womb brought forth the all-seeing goddess who lights our way through the Storms and the Darkness! All hail the Waiting Widow, who still awaits to the return of the Father, who helped the Mother bring forth…"

Isabel forcefully pushed herself through the crowd as hard as she could without hurting anyone, being sure not to acknowledge her would-be supplicants or let them put any of their gifts in her pockets as she made her way to her home. The immortal Queen matriarch, the head of the house of the Arrow, sighed, mentally counted to ten, and then spoke. "As I, and other members of my family, including my daughter, Natasha, the one you call Destiny, have told you many times before, though some of us who reside in the House of the Arrow are immortal, none of us are gods! We do not wish to be worshipped, and we do not need your gifts! However…" Isabel suppressed an eye roll as she added. "If you wish to make a contribution the Queen Foundation, which supports those among us who are less fortunate in the galaxy, you may do so here!"

There was nearly a stampede as numerous followers of "The Church of Destiny", who had begun worshipping Natasha Queen, and then her family, centuries ago after Earth's mightiest heroes had started using the information from the clairvoyant's written prophecies to save the Earth/universe/multiverse, etc., multiple times, scrambled towards the donation box that Isabel had pointed to in order to try to put their gift in the donation bin first. All the while, as the cult members stuffed credits and various valuables in the large box, various people in the masses shouted at each other. "The Mother is testing our faith, to see if we will deny her divinity!" One man shouted. "No!" A White Martian female argued. "The Mother is merely demonstrating the trait of humility, as an example for us to follow!"

After checking to make sure that none of her family's "followers" had hurt each other trying to get to the box, Isabel did roll her hazel eyes before she entered the dwelling of the House of the Arrow, the oldest of the great House of Heroes, apart from the House of the Bat, which was equally ancient. The Queen matriarch honestly did feel bad for allowing individuals who believed she was a goddess to donate to the charity her and her long dead husband, Oliver, had founded nearly a millennia ago. But she had reasoned to herself that, even though she knew very well, based upon the various supernatural events she had lived through over the centuries, that whoever ran the universe was far wiser and greater than herself, she would never get the cult founded in her daughter's honor to believe this. Therefore, Isabel had long ago decided that, until she could find a way to convince "the Church of Destiny" her family weren't gods, the offerings her "followers' insisted on leaving on the Queen family's doorstep could at least be put to better use. Hence the placement of the charity donation box, right on the Queen Mansions doorstep, the contents of which were spread out evenly among various galactic charities whenever the bin became full.

` After entering her family's third ancestral home, Isabel leaned against the door and huffed. "Damn, those people are annoying."

A familiar laugh, coming from a blonde haired, gray eyed man who was almost as old, yet just as eternally young, as Isabel, greeted the long reigning Queen Matriarch. "Oh, come on, mother, you know they mean well. Those people outside our doors are just…misguided, that's all. And their willingness to donate to the less fortunate on such a regular basis is commendable. If every well-off person donated money to the poor as frequently as our so-called followers do, there wouldn't be any more poverty in the galaxy."

Isabel smirked. "True. You really have become more pragmatic over the centuries, Connor. I'm proud of you."

The brunette ran to hug her step-son. "And I'm so glad you could come home! It's been almost…what ten years since we've seen each other? That is too long for a mother to wait for her son to come home from war! I just wish I could have gone with you. But you know how it is, this family seems to fall to pieces every time I leave Earth for more than a year at a time! I take it you and the rest of the Justice League have finished cleaning up that Oblivion mess on the arms of Orion?"

Connor's face became more serious as he pulled away from the hug that the woman he had long considered to be his mother had given him. "Just about. I told the rest of the League what we...what this family is trying to accomplish today. They understood how important this is and the other heroes told me I could come home on the first available shuttle so I might be able to see…to see him again. The war's already won out there anyway. My friends just need to round up the remaining straggler villains and help the various beings out there repair their homes before they come home too. The good guys won, but…at a hell of a cost. A lot of my friends are dead, mom. And I…I had to kill this time. I know it's probably silly for someone as old as I am to get worked up over taking a life, but…"

Isabel hugged Connor again. "It's okay. Connor. I understand. I know that you are a good, caring person that is full of light. You always have been. That's why you've never wanted to kill any of the bad guys, even since your first day as Red Arrow, all those centuries ago. You always wanted to spare the lives of even the worst villains. Including the ones who refused to be redeemed and were too dangerous to be kept alive. That's why your father and I always ultimately took take care of those people instead. We took out the trash so you wouldn't have too. Maybe Oliver and I shielded you too much from the darkness of the universe, I don't know. But I do know that you are a strong person, Connor, and that you will get through this. Now, finish your crying and wipe away your tears within the next five minutes, because things are about to get started, and as one of the three oldest members of the Queen family, you will be expected to be calm and level headed when you observe the…procedure."

Connor nodded, smiled, then did as he was told, and he and Isabel parted ways long enough to change into more formal attire. For Isabel, this meant a stylish purple dress with an early 21st century design, with matching amethyst earrings and purple heels. The Queen matriarch had paid a fortune when she had commissioned the dress to be made by a team of historians and old-school seamstresses, but as far as the brunette was concerned, if things went according to plan today, every penny would be worth it. Oliver had always liked it when she wore purple, after all.

After taking so long to get her hair just right for the upcoming event that she was almost late, Isabel finally stepped into the darkened room, which was full of many of her and Oliver's descendants, many of which were also part of the [Flashs'] House of Lighting, the House of the Bat (including the current Batman of this time period), and the Houses of the Trident, Canary, Steel, and even Amazonians (Isabel smirked as she remembered what a scandal that elopement had caused centuries ago), due to the various marriages between heroes that had occurred over the last millennia. Isabel noticed that, even though many, both within and outside of the House of the Arrow had suggested that spending most of the Queen family's fortune on bringing about today's events had been rash and premature, no one in this room was calling Isabel to halt the experiment now. So, with all the steel she could muster, Isabel made her face like stone as she called out. "Begin!"

And soon, after several scientist in lab coats flipped a serious of switches, the complicated machine at the center of the Great room whirred to life, shooting sparks into the air, various colored fumes towards the ceiling, and the smell of ozone into the noses of everyone in the room. Many of Isabel's descendants backed away from the center of the room, and one of them even begged Isabel to "Stop the machine!" But Isabel paid no attention, even as several other members of the house of the Arrow, including the current Green Lantern of Earth, had to stop the frightened individual from running towards the machine at near light speed and smashing it with super strength. All the while, Isabel only had eyes for the solitary beaker filled with a crimson liquid, which was bubbling near the center of the machine. The brunette didn't even notice that her hands were shaking, and that tears were running down her face, until Connor, dressed in a light green suit and tie, walked behind his stepmother and put a comforting arm on her shoulder. "Relax. We're finally going to get him back today. And then we can bring back my Anna, and all of the other people this family has lost over the centuries. Why else would Natasha had told us to keep genetic samples from our loved ones over the centuries, or told us to invest almost all of our family's money in the Lazarus Project when everybody else said it was just a pipe dream?"

Isabel, who had just started hyperventilating before her step-son had come to console her finally manage to calm down a little as she wiped the tears from her eyes. But only a little. "Yes, Connor, I know that your sister can see the future, and that she always has a reason when telling us to do things. But sometimes, her reasons don't seem to make sense to the rest of us, except in hindsight. Like when she told us to build that solar plant in South Africa, and Queen Industries lost billions and almost went under. It wasn't until later that we realized that plant kept South Africa from spiraling into further poverty, preventing yet another civil war in that region. I'm afraid that the Lazarus Project may turn out like that. Just another grand failure towards the greater good. Even your mental link with Natasha has waned somewhat over the centuries since she became more lost in her visions than before. She just hasn't been the same since Bart sacrificed himself and became one with the speed force while stopping that tachyon beam a mad scientist created from reaching the beginning of creation and destroying time itself. So even you don't know what your sister is planning here. Fuck, all of this superhero stuff has made our family weird!"

Connor placed his arm back at his side and smiled with more joy than he felt while Isabel pulled herself together. Even in the presence of an experiment which had the attention of everyone in the room as the machine which held the all-important vial began to shake, Isabel knew she couldn't let anybody besides Connor and Natasha see behind the "Ice Queen" mask she had put back on after Oliver had died (after nearly 300 years of life, thanks to the Lazarus Pitt). Isabel had been completely despondent after that sad, but inevitable event centuries, and she had been too depressed to even speak at her husband's funeral, bursting into tears in front of the hundreds of people from around the galaxy that had come to mourn her husband, Oliver Queen, who had helped save the universe countless, and helped found both the original Justice League and the House of the Arrow. Connor and a surprisingly lucid Natasha had had to carry their mother, who was still wailing with grief, towards her sky car and drive her home, where Isabel had proceeded to lock herself in the room she had shared with Oliver, for the past 2 centuries, for a month straight. The brunette widow finally emerged from the room pale, almost grotesquely thin, with a stoic expression on her face, and eyes and a tone of voice that were cold as ice around anyone but Connor and Natasha.

Although Isabel had never become a villain again, or tried to commit suicide, after Oliver's death, and her appearance had regained its former luster with time, she had become a colder person after that event. The Midnight Sentinel still tried to help others, but there was a more brutal efficiency to her methods now, and some of the power plays Isabel had made to protect the Queen family had been positively Machiavellian over the centuries.

Even so, despite her cold facade, Connor knew that Isabel still deeply felt the loss of his father every day, as evidenced by his step-mom's refusal to date anyone in the five years since Oliver's death, and the fact that Isabel often still described herself as a widow. And the son of the original Arrow knew that only the contents of the vial (which Isabel had resumed staring at) in the machine, and his sister's prophecy, made centuries ago, even before Oliver Queen's death, had given his mother the strength to carry on over the centuries. Connor feared for Isabel's safety if those hoped were dashed. After all, it had been proven several times over the centuries that even immortals could die under the right circumstances.

Trying to take both of their minds of what was happening in the machine far below their dark corner of the great room, Connor forced himself to smile wider as he spoke in a humorous tone of voice that wasn't accusatory in nature, although his words, perhaps, hinted at Connor possessing knowledge that neither the mother nor son would be comfortable discussing directly. "Please, Isabel. You, better than most, know that the Queen family was twisted long before we got into the vigilante business!"

Isabel looked at Connor with a near panicked expression in her eyes as she wondered for what felt like the thousandth time over the centuries if Connor knew about her brief…history with Robert Queen nearly a millennia ago. Isabel suspected that, with Natasha's frequent visions of the Queen family's past, her daughter had always known about some of her mother's ill-advised dealings with the older man, although Natasha had never spoken of her mother's old affair, but Isabel had hoped Connor remained ignorant.

Now, Isabel wasn't so sure that was the case, and the brunette flashed back to one particularly bad week in the Queen household that had occurred, during which Connor had been an uncharacteristically bad kid, sneaking of at all hours of the night, drinking, doing drugs, stealing one of the Queen family's cars…and talking back to Isabel every chance he got. During that week, the usually sweet-tempered Connor had called Isabel a "bitch", and several other derogatory names, and refused to do what his step-mother said while loudly proclaiming "You're not my mother, and you can't tell me what to do!" Throughout that bad week, Oliver had brought up several ways to punish Connor for his unacceptable behavior numerous times, but Isabel had suggested they ride things out and try to see if there was something deeper going wrong with Connor. And sure enough, at the end of the week, Connor had apologized profusely to both his father and Isabel for his bad behavior and accepted his punishment of being grounded for a month without complaint. The next day, Connor was back to his usual, well behaved self, although he never did tell his father or Isabel why he had temporarily gone off the rails to begin with.

However, the hug Connor had given Isabel at the end of that terrible week, as well as his whispered apology, which included the phrase. "I'm sorry I acted this way because…you never did anything wrong by **me**.", especially the way Connor had emphasized the me in that sentence, had made Isabel suspect that Connor had been acting out, all those centuries ago, because he had found out about her affair with Robert somehow, felt betrayed by Isabel, and decided to act out. But Isabel never knew if this hypothesis was correct, because Connor never spoke of the reasons he had acted out that week to anyone, despite both Oliver and Isabel's insistence that he do so, and Isabel certainly didn't want to directly ask if Connor had knowledge of her affair with Robert Queen. So the matter had been dropped.

And it seemed that subject would remain dropped between Connor and his stepmother when the former rapidly changed the course of the conversation that still brought Isabel anxiety, but for completely different reasons. "Still, strange as fate has treated our family, you don't need to worry. The scientist we funded to complete their research in cloning and genetic memory said that this procedure would take a long time and be very energy taxing, but that there was a 98% chance of success for the procedure, even with a source of genetic material as the blood you drew from dad before he died. We're going to get dad, back!"

Isabel shook her head again. "98 percent still isn't 100. Besides, even if he does come back fully…Even if they can bring Oliver Queen, your father, and my husband, back from the grave, do you think he will still love me after the person I've become? The things I've had to do to protect this family and this universe?"

Connor nodded. "Of course he will. Dad is crazy about you, you know that. And he had to make hard choices during his hero career too. I know he would understand why you did the things you have done over the centuries."

Isabel shook her head. "I stole billions from LexCorp to keep Queen Consolidated afloat."

Connor scoffed. "Lexcorp? You mean, one of the most notoriously evil corporations that has ever existed? The organization that was so inhumane in their treatment of test subjects and killing various innocent people that when your part in taking down that organization came to light the world almost gave you the Noble Prize? Yeah, I think dad would forgive you for stealing from them."

"I've killed dozens of people." Isabel challenged.

Connor didn't bat an eye. "Some of whom would have killed millions if you hadn't."

Isabel wouldn't look Connor in the eye as she added. "I left millions of people behind to die during the temporary evacuation of Earth that I supervised during humanity and New Genesis last war with Darkseid, in order to make sure the people I already had aboard the space ARKS could get out of Earth's orbit in time to evade the armies of Apocalypse. Just before the final counterstrike, led by the Justice League and so-called "new gods' could finally annex that wretched planet to New Genesis and nail Darkseid to the Wall forever. If I had just waited another hour for more people to get on board, like you begged me to..."

"It would have been too late." Connor reassured Isabel. "I didn't see it then, in the heat of the moment, but I understand now. If we had waited, it is doubtful that the pilots would have been able to push the engines of the ARKs hard enough to get anyone off Earth on time. What you did that day wasn't nice, but it was necessary. You sacrificed millions to save billions. I know that decision still haunts you, but it was the right call to make, and I forgave you for making it years ago. Now you just need to forgive yourself, like I know dad will."

"He's right, you know…" Isabel and Connor were caught off guard as the owner of the voice, Natasha Queen, was whisked from the other side of the large room until she was right in front of her mother and brother. And the latter two individuals were even more shocked to realize that Natasha was now in the loving arms of none other than Bart Allen, the erstwhile Flash of several centuries ago, and Natasha Queen's long-lost (and presumed dead), husband!

Isabel quickly put her stoic mask back on her face as she raised her right eyebrow. "Bart Allen. Never expected to see you again. I'll ask you how you are here, alive, but first, I have a little welcome back present for you…"

Isabel then promptly slapped Bart, still clad in the same red and Yellow costume he had ran off to save the day in centuries ago. The scarlet speedster stood still and took the slap across his face, and Connor had his arms crossed as he glared at his brother in-law while Natasha screamed at Isabel. "Mother!"

But Bart just held up his hand towards his wife and shook his head. "No. It's okay. I deserved that greeting for coming back home far too late, and some of the people here told me that you…well, that you haven't been doing so well since I've been gone, Natasha. And I'm very sorry about that. Like I told you many times, even though I can move faster than my ancestor ever could, I was never as good at the whole time travel thing as Barry Allen was, and after I stopped the end of time itself and turned around to come home, I'm afraid I might have overshot my destination by a little bit."

Connor uncrossed his arms and smirked, but his voice still carried a reprimand when he spoke to his long-lost brother in-law. "By a little bit? Try several centuries."

Bart scratched the back of his head at super speed. "Yeah. And like I said. I'm real sorry about that, but I seem to be drawn to significant moments in history when I time travel, and I showed up at this point in space time, so…I'm guessing something important is happening today? Maybe something to do with that machine in the center of the room?"

Isabel's eyes lit up a little at Bart's words, and she dared to let herself hope that the significant moment in time that her son-in law was drawn to was her husband's successful resurrection. In the meantime, Natasha was just shaking her head at her husband's foolishness and smirking as she spoke. "There's no time to explain now, husband. Just know that I'm glad you have finally come back to me, just as I foresaw that you would." Natasha then pulled Bart into a deep kiss that lasted several seconds, during which Isabel and Connor politely looked away until Natasha pulled away and smiled. "I must introduce you to all of our descendants later, Bart. But right now, I need to talk to my mother."

Natasha turned towards Isabel and smiled. "As I am about to say, everything is going to be just fine for everyone in our family…as long as you are the first person dad sees if he wakes up and opens his eyes after the completion of the experiment!"

By this point, the level of noise the machine at the center of the great room was emitting was so great that the members of the Queen family had to shout to hear each other, so Isabel was yelling as she asked. "Is Oliver going to wake up? Is your father going to be successfully resurrected?"

Natasha just smirked at her mother before she walked to the other side of the room, and Bart just shrugged as he started to follow his wife, but Isabel caught the speedster's right arm before he could do so as she yelled. "I am glad you are back, Bart Allen!" Connor half-smiled as he nodded in affirmation to his mom's words as she continued screaming to be heard over the machine. "But don't you ever abandon my daughter like that again!"

Bart just nodded and mouthed "I won't", before going to join his wife, since the machine was now so loud that even yelling could be heard. Isabel nodded her head in acceptance of her son in-law's words as she walked towards the center of the room, just as the lights and sounds of the machine stopped, and Isabel raced towards the naked cloned body of a blonde haired man that she knew better than anyone. As the blonde man started to visible stir, Isabel began shouting. "It's me, Oliver! Isabel! I'm right here!"

Isabel then jumped over the safety barricade that had been placed right around the machine to keep bystanders who weren't wearing the same radiation shields as the scientists from getting hurt, and the head scientists, a Dr. Frank Asimov, tried to push Isabel outside of the restricted area. "Miss Queen, please stay back! The gamma radiation concentration here is too great for any non-shielded, non-cloned bodies to take and…"

Isabel wouldn't hear another word of objection as she grasped the man by the lapels of his coat. "First off, it's Mrs. Queen, not Miss. That's my husband there on that table, which gives me that right to make medical decisions on his behalf in his current state…such as who should be the first person to see him when he wakes up. Second, I pay your salary, so if you want the Lazarus Project to continue past today, I don't want to hear any words come out of your mouth that don't start with 'Yes' and end with 'Ma'am.' And finally, I'm an immortal, you stupid son of a bitch! A little gamma radiation isn't going to hurt me! So why don't you do something smart, like you're paid to do, and tell your lackeys to get out of my way so that I can see my husband as soon as he comes back from the dead!"

The head scientists gulped and nodded after Isabel let him go, then the man spat out a "Yes, ma'am." The doctor then turned towards his colleagues and shouted. "Do what Mrs. Queen says."

All the scientists cleared the way as Isabel walked towards her husband, who was just showing the first signs of heavier breathing and rapid eye movement that indicated he might wake up soon, although his eyes hadn't fully opened yet. Isabel was trembling when she climbed on the slab Oliver's body was lying on and laid down next to her husband's new body, but she ignored the stares of various onlookers and family member's as she put her head on the blonde man's bare chest and whispered in his ears. "Please wake, Oliver. I need to see those gray eyes again. I need you back in my arms. I…I waited for you, after you died. I know you told me to try to find happiness with someone else after you died, but I couldn't do it. You are the only person who I have ever been in love with, and I always knew that no one would ever be able to hold my heart but you. So I waited for you. And I hoped, based upon some vague prophecy our daughter made so long ago and the blood sample I took from you before you died, that one day, you would be able to come back to me. I have been patient for so long, but now that you are here again, I feel like I can't wait another moment to see you beautiful eyes again. So, please, Oliver. If you still want to spend eternity with me, like you promised to when we got married almost a millennia ago, please look at me…"

Isabel moved her body so that her head was just over Oliver's and her open hazel eyes were hovering just over Oliver's close gray orbs, so that her eyes would be the first thing Oliver saw when he woke up. If he woke up. Then Isabel pleaded one last time. "Open your eyes."

And Oliver Queen did.

 **The End**

 **AN: Okay, first of all, I would like to thank everyone who has read my Olibel trilogy, especially those of you who started reading from the first chapter of "The Sins of the Father, the Deeds of the Son" and made your way all the way to the end of the trilogy. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the ride! And another special thanks goes out to anyone who has reviewed the last chapter of this story as of the time of this writing, including Highlander 348, Troll99, nzOptimist, Winterrain36, Phillipe363, and Pootamis, your reviews and input were all most appreciated!**

 **Now, a few things. One, yes, I did mean to leave the ending on sort of a cliffhanger. Because what exactly does happily ever after mean when you are immortal? How could I, as an author, really show that without having a story that never ends (which I obviously can't do)? So I decided to just leave the ending on a mysterious, but hopeful note. Please let me know what you thought of the finale of the Olibel trilogy but just know that THIS. IS. THE. END. I will not be writing any Olibel stories on this site in the future. It's been fun writing that pairing, but it is time for me to move on to other writing projects and real life stuff. If I could be prepared to do a spin off, it would be a story about the meeting and courtship of my OC, Natasha Queen, and Bart Allen. Even then, it would be a long while before I wrote that story, because I have so many other, none Arrow stories I want to write in the meantime.**

 **There are many sci-fi and comic references in this chapter, so feel free to point out any references you see in a review and/or PM. Whoever spots the most references gets a no prize. Here's a free point for everyone. Natasha marrying Bart Allen was sort of a reference to a redeemed Ravager (the Rose Wilson, comic version) and Bart being an item in one possible future presented in the Teen Titans comics. Since Isabel is obviously with Oliver in this story, I figure her daughter ending up with Bart was the closest I could get to being similar to the comics in this regard.**

 **A few thoughts on the future presented in Epilogue 2. This is not a bad future. Crime, poverty and war still exists, but by and large, things have gotten better with time, all the major villains are defeated or dead, and the "good guys" are mostly in charge of things. Some aspects of the world of this last chapter, such as the various hero cults (the Batmen, Supermen, and Amazonians would probably have cults as well), are regrettable, but perhaps inevitable, results of meta-humans, aliens, and immortals living among humans for so long. Throughout history, human beings have worshiped/feared that which they did not understand. This is not to bash any particular religion, as I have my own spiritual beliefs, this is just a fact of human history. Also, I purposely made this version of the future different than it was in either the show or the comics, which is why Starling City never became Star City, and Connor became the first Green Arrow, a hero who, for the most part won't kill, while Oliver remains simply the Arrow, a slightly darker vigilante who isn't afraid to "take out the trash" when necessary, alongside his wife, Isabel, aka The Midnight Sentinel.**

 **Thanks again to everyone who had read and or reviewed this trilogy! Your support and input have been greatly appreciated. And the biggest thank you of all goes out to my beta reader, who slogged through every chapter in the Olibel trilogy and edited before I posted it here. Thank you for polishing off the literary coal that each chapter of this story was before you got your hands on it, and turning each one into a diamond! I couldn't have done this without you, and I am so grateful for your help and support!**

 **I will have other stories to write later, but until we meet again, readers, I am…**

 **-supercode**


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